Mated
by ChihiroLee
Summary: After a terrible incident which left his partner dead and him permanently changed, an already married Draco finds out that he has a soulmate. And his soulmate definitely isn't his wife. This information throws his whole life out of whack, leaving him battling against himself.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Didn't really get any feedback on whether or not I should post this while I'm working on the next chapter for Little Dragon. But I figured 'what the hell' and so here I am. Lol. Gonna be another** ** _LONG_** **day at work. Hope my body doesn't give out from exhaustion, heaven knows** ** _that_** **wouldn't be fun. Anywhosies, let me know if you all enjoy it & want me to continue on with it.**

 **Also, I would like to place a WARNING here for anyone who doesn't like fics with characters behaving OOC. This story _will_ have characters that are OOC. Because this is a _fan_ fiction, after all. Emphasis on the fan bit. I very obviously am _not_ JK, so these characters will behave in a manner in which she might not have written them. But that's the beauty of fanfictions, they can be whatever you like. And if you don't like my fic, then you can very easily write your own. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, to those that wish to continue, I do hope that you enjoy my story.**

* * *

 _Summary:_ _After a terrible incident which left his partner dead and him permanently changed, an already married Draco finds out that he has a soulmate. And his soulmate definitely isn't his wife. This information throws his whole life out of whack, leaving him battling against himself._

* * *

 **Forbidden Forest: 26 October 2005**

Draco knew something was wrong, he could sense it. Like a cold chill creeping into his body to settle deep down in his bones. The woods were quiet, _too_ quiet, as Draco and Harry made their way through the Forbidden Forest. No other sound was able to be heard, outside of the soft squishing noise their boots made as they continued to trek through the mud and deeper into this awful place. It struck Draco as something that was quite suspicious as he and his partner stalked through the woods, in search of the werewolf, Fenrir Greyback. He couldn't hear any form of sound, aside from the sound of their footsteps, and the deafening silence began to make him feel quite leery.

He nervously looked around, concentrating his hearing to see if he could pick up any other kind of discernible sounds outside of their steps. He had been an Auror for the past six years, and over that time he had seen a number of terrifying things, but none of them sent a chill down his spine like the thought of that disgusting monster, _Greyback_. If his years as an Auror had taught him anything, it was to always trust your gut. And his gut was screaming that something was wrong, the woods were just too quiet. Draco took a calming breath, before coming to a stop and steeled his voice to speak to his partner.

"Potter, tell me something, will you?" He said as he began to look around. "Can you hear anything?" Halting his own steps the dark haired wizard began to look around as he strained to listen to the silent night air around them.

"No. I don't hear anything, Malfoy."

"Neither do I. I don't hear any birds, insects, or any of the other creatures that reside here for that matter... I mean outside of the sound of us walking, I can hear absolutely nothing."

"Can we just keep walking so we can get this over with, Ginny's making a roast tonight, and I'm itching to get home to her. And to be honest, I really don't think I see where you're going with this. " Harry said, looking over to meet Draco's gaze.

An annoyed expression marred the blond's face as he stared back at his partner. "Really Potter? I sincerely hope you haven't let marriage make you this thick, so soon. I can't think for the both of us, so you really need to have your wits about you now more than ever." Rolling his eyes and turning his head to search the area behind himself, he continued speaking, "If the forest is this silent, then the only thing left to assume is that the creatures that reside here have somehow been frightened off. More than likely there is a large predator nearby." He stopped speaking again, looking back at Harry as he waited for the man to piece the puzzle together on his own. When Harry didn't speak, obviously missing his deliberate insinuation, Draco couldn't hide his exasperated expression as he filled in the blanks for him. "Potter, he has to be close. He's the only predator besides an acromantula that's threatening enough to scare off the many inhabitants of these woods.."

Harry paused to consider his words and then began to slowly nod in agreement, he couldn't deny the fact that Draco had a point. It _was_ entirely too quiet. And over these past few years as an Auror, with Draco as his partner, he learned to get past their old grudges and he ultimately began to trust the Slytherin. He also couldn't deny that some of Draco's previous judgement calls in sticky situations had definitely saved their skins. Merlin knows Harry was lucky to be alive after some of the missions they had been on over these past few years as partners. He knew he could trust this man with his life, there was no doubt about it.

But that didn't mean that Harry didn't still find him to be an incessantly, incorrigible prat sometimes.

"Potter I know I keep telling you this, but I'm being serious. Watch yourself and be careful," Draco whispered as he locked eyes with his partner again, attempting to convey to him the severity of their current situation, "Greyback is a sadistic fuck, Potter. So if you see him before I do, signal me immediately and let me know. If we're both on the offence, I have no doubt in my mind that we'll be able to take him down if we're both at the task. I've seen this monster in action Potter, and I know first hand that it'll be harder to take him down if he manages to separate us. And for the love of Merlin, don't let him bite you. I know you saw what he did to Bill Weasley, but that's nothing compared to what some of the more recent reports say.

"Apparently Greyback has found a way to enhance his Lycanthropic genes and now he has the ability to pass on the curse whether he bites you during the full moon or not. There are no more half measures with him, and he doesn't even need to be in his wolf form to infect someone now. He's...he's a merciless indiscriminate beast, Potter. He's already turned ten witches and wizards so far, and most of them were fucking children. Not to mention he's highly infectious, so when we see him it's imperative that we maintain a good distance from him as we subdue him and once he's down, we'll throw that bastard in a cage, and send him off to Azkaban—where he belongs, and then you can get your whipped arse back home to your wife." He joked halfheartedly while forcing a smile on his face. Regardless of his attempt to lighten the mood, Draco still couldn't help the involuntary shiver that ran up his spine as he spoke of Greyback.

Yeah, he knew what the monster was capable of, hell, he'd even seen him in action a few times. And what he read in the reports of Greyback's most recent sightings and activities, only served to chill his bones even more. Draco couldn't believe the fiend had gone so far as to find a way to infect people with the werewolf curse on a whim. The moment he saw the case he knew the Department of Magical Law Enforcement would send him on the mission to procure him. Simply because they believed he knew the monster best from the short time he'd spent as a Death Eater before defecting. He also knew that because of this his partner, by extension, would be required to accompany him on this mission. And currently the man was at a disadvantage because he hadn't had the chance to read the intel Draco had already been privy to.

Suddenly, Draco's spine began to stiffen as the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up. _Something_ was near. He looked over his shoulder and into the darkness, silently cursing the gods because he couldn't use a _Lumos_ charm to aid him at the moment. He and Harry had already agreed that the charm would only serve as a beacon, doing nothing more than alerting the werewolf of their arrival.

"I understand Malfoy. You don't have to keep prattling on about it. You've been telling me to be careful since we left our office earlier. I can't help it that I'm eager to get this over and done with as soon as possible so I can get home to the misses. I'm certain she's beside herself with worry because were out here right now on this damned mission as is." He said with a sigh. "I just wish I was still in Egypt right now with her instead of here hunting for a werewolf."

Draco continued to peer into the darkness behind him, even as he rolled his eyes and started speaking. "Potter, get your mind off your wife for one fucking moment and focus on this mission. Staying alive and catching Greyback is the only thing that needs to be on your mind, not your damn honeymoon you git-

His words cut off once he turned back around and saw Greyback's smiling face just over Harry's shoulder, his eyes alight with psychotic glee. He raised a finger to his lips in a mock shushing motion. Draco grabbed for his wand and opened his mouth to warn his partner, just as the werewolf's terrible claw plunged through the young war hero's back and exploded out of his chest. Painting Draco's face in splatters of blood. Draco stumbled backwards and onto his arse at the sight and began inching away, all the while keeping his eyes locked on the werewolf.

"—Malfoyyy" Harry coughed out just before his head slouched off to the side. He watched as the beast slowly pulled his hand out of Harry's body, letting his lifeless form fall bonelessly to the ground beside him, and lifted his bloody fist to his mouth. A wet crunching sound filled the soundless air around them and he knew the monster was eating his heart.

 _Harry is dead. This can't be happening. Harry defeated the Dark Lord, the most vicious dark wizard to have ever lived. What would his young wife say? They'd only just got back from their honeymoon yesterday. This would surely devastate the poor woman. What of my own wife? I'm probably going to die this evening as well._ Greyback's voice broke Draco from his rueful thoughts.

"Hello little Malfoy... long time... no see..." he said while cautiously inching closer to the young wizard.

Draco raised his wand and immediately began to fire stunning and binding spells at the beast, not wanting him to get any closer to him than he already was. The beast dodged every spell, with graceful speed, making Draco even more nervous with fright. With a sickening smile the werewolf turned and ran off and into the woods. Draco didn't waste any time crawling over to his fallen comrade. He pulled the twenty three year old into his lap, cradling his torso in his arms. Harry's head swung lifelessly from side to side as Draco held onto him.

"Potter I'm sorry." He cried, unable to help the tears that formed in his eyes. "This wasn't supposed to happen to you. D-don't worry. I'm g-gonna get you out of here. I won't leave you here... I swear I won't" He sobbed, preparing to hoist his partner's corpse over his shoulder and make a run to the edge of the woods so that he could apparate them both out of this gods forsaken place.

A shiver ran down his spine as he felt a warm gust of air run past his ear, accompanied by a low growl. He winced, aghast at what the implication of the growl meant, and his blood began to run cold. How had he not heard him return?

"Leaving so soon? But the party's just started.." the familiar voice of Greyback said. Before Draco could react, the monster latched onto the junction of flesh between his neck and shoulder. Draco's scream pierced the nighttime air, as the blood began to flow from the wound. Greyback released him and flung him into a nearby tree, knocking the wind from his lungs.

Draco struggled for air as he watched the monster stalk closer to his body. Raising his head defiantly, he began to speak, he wouldn't let this monster see his fear.

"Go on and kill me you filthy _beast_. Let's just get this over with already. Because if you're looking for me to get on my knees and beg you for my life, you've got the wrong man."

"Oh I'm not going to kill you little Malfoy. Why ever would I do that? I could never kill my own progeny."

"Progeny? The hell are you on about Greyback?"

"You already know the answer to that question, _boy_. I heard you and your little friend talking about me and what I've been up to."

Draco began to shake his head. No. This couldn't be happening! Greyback wasn't going to kill him...he was going to leave him...leave him to turn into a monster as well. He could already feel the werewolf's venom working at the wound on his neck, mending the

flesh where the bite was and turning it into fat pink scars.

"You can't do this to me! You can't leave me here to turn into-into some animal! Kill me! Kill me damnit! I'd rather be dead than become what you are!"

"You stupid, stupid boy. You won't become like me. There is only one alpha, and I alone hold the ability to shift between my human and wolf form whenever my heart desires. I alone hold the ability to turn men into wolves on any given night of the week. I am the one true alpha. All I've done to you is turn you into one of my many children. And like my other children, you will only become a werewolf on the night of the full moon each month. You should be thanking me for blessing you with such a prestigious gift," he sneered.

Draco's vision began to blur around the edges, as a black fog began to creep over his consciousness and started to envelop him, plunging his mind into a dark abyss as the voice of the monster began to sound like nothing more than murmurs. The last discernible words he could make out before his world went to black, was

"Enjoy the gift I've given you, Malfoy."

* * *

 **Ministry of Magic: 26 October 2006**

"What do you mean I'm suspended indefinitely?" Draco fumed at his supervisor.

"We're sorry to let you go Mr. Malfoy, but you're a safety hazard to our other employees and we've been receiving complaints."

"Complaints? I'm one of the best Aurors you have. And what have I done that qualifies me as a safety hazard, huh? I haven't hurt or threatened anyone!" He ran his hand through his hair as he continued to pace back and forth through the office in a rage. "Be a man and tell it to me straight. You're letting me go because I'm a werewolf, right? It's not because I have actually done anything to deserve this and you know it!"

"There _have_ been complaints, and your coworkers no longer feel safe. And it is because of that, that I have to let you go. I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, now on behalf of the ministry, I want to thank you for your years as an Auror. Now if you would please excuse me, I have a meeting." The man said as he stood up, extending his hand for a farewell handshake, while dismissing Draco from his office.

Draco stood up and brushed past the man, ignoring his hand as he rushed out. _How dare they fire me! After everything I've done for this job! After everything that's happened to me as a_ direct _cause of me working here! How dare they fucking fire me. Do they honestly think I'm so thick I don't know the real reason why they're letting me go! As if I didn't know it's because I'm a bloody werewolf! I wouldn't even be a damned halfbreed if it weren't for this gods forsaken place! I can't believe the audacity—_ his thoughts were interrupted when he bumped into a soft small person that was in his way.

"Hey! Watch—" Just as he was about to tear into whomever it was that bumped into him, his nostrils were filled with the most intoxicating aroma. He closed his eyes and inhaled a little more deeply and recognized it as a combination of things. Who ever it was, smelled like a field of daisies on a rainy spring morning with a small hint of vanilla. It was absolutely heavenly.

"Oomf— I'm sorry. I didn't see you there Draco." As soon as she spoke, he immediately recognised her sing song voice.

 _Hermione_

"Oh it's quite alright Hermione." He replied inhaling her sweet scent once more before craning his neck to look down and meet her gaze. "I should be the one apologising, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."

"Draco, a-are you okay?" Hermione asked him while inspecting his emotion riddled face.

"Yeah, I suppose so, I just, erm... oh it doesn't bloody matter. Does it?"

"Look, I know we've grown apart over the years and that you may not see me as a close friend anymore, but I still see you as one. And it saddens me to see you upset like this. I just want you to know that well... that you can talk to me if you like? You know? Like we used to back in Hogwarts." She offered, her hazelnut eyes boring into his steel ones.

Draco couldn't help the genuine smile that graced his face at the mention of the closeness they once shared back in Hogwarts. The simple days, back when they shared a dorm as Head Boy and Head Girl. Regardless of that, he didn't want to cross that line again and open up to her like he once had. So when he opened his mouth to speak, he didn't know what compelled him to do it, he really didn't. He honestly had no intention to, but when he opened his mouth to tell her he had to be getting home, something else entirely came out instead.

"I...uh.. I just got fired..." he said in a low somber tone, as he looked down towards the floor, ashamed of how vulnerable he felt due to his openness. Hermione gasped in surprise, like he knew she would. As a solicitor Hermione already knew first hand what an incredible Auror he had been for the past seven years. Everyone who worked in Magical Law knew about him. In the past seven years, he had made close to a hundred arrests. Even after _the_ _incident,_ he fought the depression that had taken over him and persevered. He even aided in the arrest of the monster that killed his partner, the animal that fucked up his life by infecting him, the thing he hated most in this world, Greyback.

"Why the hell did they fire you?!" Hermione asked, completely enraged.

"My assumption is that they did it because I'm a werewolf." Draco growled out, his rage coming back to him for a moment.

"T-they can't do that!" She stammered, as her blood began to boil. She couldn't believe the MLE would be so blatantly discriminatory. "I should know, I mean it was me that helped pass the legislation that bans employers from firing employees due to their Lycanthropy. What exactly did they say to you when they fired you Draco?"

"They told me that they were letting me go because they were receiving complaints about me from my coworkers and then they had the gall to tell me that I'm a _safety hazard_."

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! They actually said that to you?! That's complete and total shite!" Hermione continued to rage. And Draco couldn't help but to admire her fire and beauty. Her curly hair flowed around her like a veil, and her eyes were bright with her anger; lightening up from their usual dark chocolate colour, to a bright hazel. Her cheeks were flushed pink from rage, and her lips were full and swollen as she chewed on her lip, and he could see her mind working. Her voice broke his mind away from his thoughts. "I could help you, you know?"

"Help me? Help me how?"

"Draco I'm a solicitor. I can help you fight this discriminatory termination before the Wizengamot."

"Oh Hermione, you don't have—

"It's really not a problem Draco." She said cutting him off, "I _want_ to do this. With your termination, the MLE is in direct violation of the Lycanthropy Equality Act. That bill was my baby, and I'm not going to let them get away with what they're doing. And even though I know you have galleons to spare, I'll do this pro bono."

"Pro bono?" Draco asked, even though he already knew what she meant, he just wanted to keep her there and continue to inhale the delicious scent before him. He'd honestly never smelled anything like it before.

"It's a muggle term. It basically means I'll do it free of charge."

"You'd really do that for me?"

"Of course I would."

"If you're doing this because you feel sorry for me, don't, I really don't want your pity Hermione."

"I'm not pitying you, you clod. You're my friend and I seriously want to help you fight this, it's a blatant disregard for the bill I helped pass for all Lycan-kind."

"Well in that case, I suppose I should be thanking you then."

"You really don't have to thank me Draco. I'm more than happy to help you stick it to these imbeciles." She smiled at him before continuing. "Now that we have that settled, do you have any free time to meet somewhere, so we can go over everything in greater detail before I go and file the petition?"

"I... Erm... To be honest with you Hermione, outside of coming here and going to work, I never have plans. People tend to steer clear of me."

"People steer clear of you? What's that supposed to mean Draco?"

"Well I don't know how else to say this, but due to my _affliction_ , I don't really go out much anymore. Since my attack was made so public and everyone knows who I am, people tend to avoid me like the plague. I can't even walk down the street without people watching me fearfully, sometimes yanking their children into their arms, and practically running away from me. It's disheartening to say the least. So most of my free time is spent at home, brewing potions."

She frowned, "Oh Draco, I never knew... I just assumed you wanted your privacy."

"It's fine. I don't blame them. Last year, before all of this happened, I probably would've felt the same way as them."

He hated the pained expression that came over her face as he spoke, "So where would you like to meet Draco?"

"Well like I said earlier Hermione, I don't go out anymore. Everyone makes me feel so uncomfortable. Like I'm some evil demonic thing that they should all avoid. The most comfortable place for me to meet with you, would be at my family's home. And I'm afraid to ask you to come there. I know it's been awhile, but I don't know how comfortable you feel coming to the manor just yet. I know you have painful memories of your time spent there." At the mention of the manor Draco could see Hermione visibly shudder. And he couldn't help but feel a load of guilt behind it.

"I understand if you don't want to do this anymore, especially if you don't want to come to the manor. But if you do, then I can assure you that we wouldn't be anywhere near the drawing room, that is, if you still decide to come. We could even meet directly in my wing of the manor if that suits you better?"

"I'll do it. But only if we hold the meeting in your wing. That's the only way I'll come. Now what day and time should we make this meeting?"

"Heh, hey well you're the one here with a job. So what time are _you_ free to meet?" At that question Hermione took a pause before she answered.

"Well since today is Thursday, and I'm ahead on all of my current paperwork. I suppose this Saturday at twelve would work well for me. Is that a good time for you?"

Before opening his mouth to answer he stood there and pretended to be in deep thought. All the while inhaling the beautiful aroma wafting away from Hermione and up into his nose. He had no idea what this smell could be, but he knew he needed to get this perfume and give it to his wife, it intoxicated his senses in a way like nothing ever had.

 _ **What is that delicious smell**_ _,_ he heard a voice growl out from deep within his mind.

 _Who are you,_ he asked the voice, because he'd never heard it before.

 _ **ANSWER ME! TELL ME WHAT THAT DELICIOUS SMELL IS!**_ The voice snarled back, oozing with irritation at the question.

 _It's nothing,_ he lied, hoping he could keep the voice at bay.

 _ **It's Her.**_ the voice growled back, focussing Draco's eyes on Hermione's face

"—Draco?"

 _ **Give her to me!**_ The voice demanded in a snarl in the back of his head.

This voice was beginning to make him nervous.

"Oh please do forgive me Hermione, I was lost in a thought. Saturday at twelve works just fine for me."

Hermione smiled up at him and he felt his heart melt. He found it endearing how innocently beautiful she was.

"Very well then Draco, I'll see you then. I need to get going, I have a meeting in like ten minutes." She said as she began to walk towards the direction he was just coming from.

"Okay... oh hey Hermione," Draco called out to her and she turned back around to face him.

"Yes Draco?"

"What's the name of the perfume you're wearing? It's rather intoxicating and I would love to get some for Astoria." She looked up at him, her face thoroughly confused as she began to speak.

 _ **You imbecile! It is NOT the scent of perfume you smell. It is her!**_

"Draco... thank you for the compliment I suppose, but I'm not wearing any perfume. I never do. It's not my thing."

"My mistake, sorry I interrupted you."

 _ **Take her you fool!**_

"It's fine Malfoy, see you on Saturday," Hermione said with a wave and a smile, before turning away and continuing on.

Draco had to fight the urge to follow her, just to get another intoxicating drag of her delicious scent. None of this made any sense to him. If she wasn't wearing perfume, why did she smell so damned good. Why did that smell make him want to press his nose into her shoulder? Why did it make him want to _**bite**_ her? He felt truly disturbed by his thoughts, it made him want to go home and figure out what it was exactly that was making him feel this way.

 _ **Why are you letting her get away you idiot?! Run after her! Take her! Take her now for everyone to see! She's mine! I need to mark her! You're letting her get away! Bring her to me!**_ The voice raged at him from within his mind, compelling him to follow her.

He needed to get out of here quickly before he did something truly foolish. His mind began to conjure up depraved images of him yanking Hermione into the nearest supply closet, ripping off every stitch of her clothing, and burying himself to the hilt inside of her. And if that wasn't bad enough already, he really _really_ wanted to bite her. _What the fuck?_ He wanted to sink his teeth into the smooth peachy skin on her neck, as he fucked her like no other. He was going mad. Before he did something regretful, Draco pulled out his hawthorn wand, he wrapped his hand around it and apparated home.

He landed directly in his family's library, and ran straight to the _Magical Creatures_ section in search of a book that would explain what the fuck just happened to him. That's when he found it.

 _Werewolves: Understanding the Beast_

With that book in his hands he set off to the lounge within the library and began to read.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN** : **I don't know if anyone actually likes this fic. But it keeps coming out of my fingertips, so I'll continue to post it. lol. So here we go, chapter 2.**

* * *

 ** _Ministry of Magic - 27 October 2006_ **

Friday had been a particularly taxing day for Hermione as she made her way to the Ministry's floo in order to head home. No, her day hadn't been taxing due to the mountain of paper work that laid on her desk the moment she walked into her office, she easily devoured all the paperwork on her desk as if it had been nothing more than simple schoolwork from her Hogwarts days. No, what kept Hermione in a perpetual state of anxiety, was the stress she felt because she still hadn't come up with a way to tell her husband that she was going to help Malfoy appeal his termination.

Ron had never gotten over his childhood rivalry with Malfoy, and never failed to toss his two cents into the ring if the Malfoy family ever happened to come up in conversation. It never mattered to Ron that he defected from the Death Eaters and began spying on the Dark Lord for the Order, risking his own life for their cause. Nor was he impressed with Malfoy when he became an Auror. He always surmised that he'd 'done it in Order to keep his eyes on the authorities to ensure that they were never onto his family's use of dark magic and artefacts'. And probably the worst thing of all, Ron believed that Malfoy set Harry up to be murdered by Greyback.

Harry...

Harry was a sensitive topic for the both of them, and losing him that awful night a year ago, had put a strain on their relationship. Due to her position as a solicitor for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, she'd been tasked as one of the lawyers to come on and help compile evidence on behalf of the prosecution. Essentially, she was to go through the evidence with a fine tooth comb determine whether or not any attack performed by a magical creature or being, was warranted or a brutish show of strength. It was during this time, that she had become privy to Malfoy's memories of that awful night and because of that she always known the truth to his words.

He had been found in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, with the help of the trace the DMLE placed on all the wands used by Aurors. They found him unconscious, bloodied, bitten and slumped against a tree— with Harry's lifeless form sprawled out in the mud, less than a kilometre away from him. When Malfoy had been enervated later on at St. Mungo's, he'd actually started screaming, upon his revival. Demanding to know where Harry was, telling them that he'd promised him that he wouldn't leave him behind. The things she saw in that pensive, those were feelings that couldn't possibly be faked. After paying for and attending Harry's funeral, he'd been publicly outed as a werewolf by one of his coworkers in the Auror department and became a social pariah, he was never seen out and about again.

It stayed that way for a little over a month. It was like Malfoy completely disappeared off the face of the Earth. No one had heard or seen of him since he was outed as a werewolf. Though she never told anyone, Hermione was worried for him then. She worried he might've done something drastic and turned his wand on himself. But then, he suddenly returned. It seemed as if he had been given a new purpose. Though he was never seen out publicly, he returned to work.

It was with his aid that the Ministry was able to finally take down Greyback once and for all. Draco had used all of his newfound abilities as a werewolf, to help them track him down and arrest that sadistic animal. She had been so proud of him then, Hermione knew she had no right to be, but she couldn't help herself. She remembered the bigoted git he had been back in Hogwarts, but the day she saw him at Grimmauld Place crying his eyes out as he defected from the Dark Lord had changed him in her mind. Ron thought it was all a trick then; that he was only there to spy for Voldemort.

Everyone was a little suspicious of him, but Ronald was more so, than others. Still, she always tried to give him the benefit of the doubt because his intentions always seemed genuine. Hermione just knew he had some good in him then. And he'd proven her right when he stayed the course and even fought beside them in the final battle at Hogwarts. That day changed everyone's perception of him, all except Ron. Draco never cared though, he just continued to work his hardest to make his own way in this new peaceful world he helped fight for. Even though he really didn't have to, he'd become an Auror and excelled beyond measure. So it didn't come as a shock when they paired he and Harry together as partners. She could see that the man genuinely wanted to do good, which endeared him even more to her.

That's why she was so riled up when he told her he had been fired from his job. She was absolutely livid that the Ministry would even think to allow such blatant discrimination to be practiced against a war hero. Someone who had given his all for them, someone that only incurred his affliction due to his damned job there in the first place.

Even with those things in mind, she knew her husband. And she knew Ron would never see things the same way she did. He never had, when Draco Malfoy was involved.

He thought Malfoy deserved to be bitten. He thought it 'served him right for setting Harry up'. He thought Malfoy deserved every rotten thing that had ever happened to him both before and after the war. As she stepped out of the floo and into the living room to the two bedroom house she shared with her husband, she figured there was no time like the present to get this conversation underway. Unsurprisingly, Hermione found him in the kitchen, stuffing the last bite of a sandwich down his gullet as she approached him.

"Was that sandwich your dinner, or did you still want me to cook something?" She asked, just to break the silence in the room.

"Now Mione, you know I could still eat. What were you going to make?"

"I thought I'd make something quick and yummy, like spaghetti bolognese." She knew that he loved that dish whenever she made it, and she wanted to sate him with some food before she told him of her plans to help Draco.

"Mmm! I love it when you make that! It's always so good!" He said as his face lit up with a look he reserved especially for food he found delicious.

Hermione walked over to the pantry, and then to the fridge, stopping to pull out the ingredients she needed and began to cook. About an hour later and the house was filled with the delicious smell of the bolognese sauce and the pasta had been cooked to perfection. Hermione piled the food up high on a plate for Ron, and sat it before him before she turned to make a small plate for herself and took the seat beside him.

Hermione watched him as he tucked into his food, waiting for him to become full enough to not want to argue when she finally told him. As he was three-fourths of the way done with his plate of spaghetti, she decided now was the time to broach the subject.

"Ron, I want to tell you something..."

 _Slurppp_ "What is it Mione?" He asked, as he placed his fork down to take in the pensive look on his wife's face. "You're pregnant aren't you! I just knew it," he said while beaming proudly. "I didn't want to say anything before, but I could tell by just looking at your stomach. Lately, you've been looking like you've put on a few, but at least now we know why," He said before smiling again and going to shovel more food into his mouth. Seemingly proud of what he deemed to be her reason for wanting to talk to him.

"No Ron, I'm _not_ pregnant." She growled out.

"But we've been trying for eight months, you should have certainly been pregnant by now."

"Yes, precisely." She groaned in a mildly annoyed tone. "We've only been trying for eight months. Contrary to what you might believe, eight months, is _not_ a long time Ronald." she continued in the same tone. "I've known several people who have tried for over a year before conceiving a child."

"You're talking about muggles though, not wizards."

"What is that supposed to mean," Hermione asked him, anger beginning to boil in her veins.

"What I mean, is that muggle rules don't apply to wizards. Or at least in regards to my family anyway."

"I do hope there's a point to the ignorant crap you're allowing to fall from your face right now."

"I do have a point."

"Well, do get on with it."

"Hermione... my _point_ is that maybe you should probably go and see a healer or something, there's obviously something wrong with you. And whatever it is, has to be the reason why you can't get pregnant."

She scoffed, "There is _nothing_ wrong with me Ronald!"

"Mione. Okay... So let's look at it this way, you've seen the size of the family that I come from, we obviously don't suffer from fertility issues. Bill, George, and even Percy have children now. But we don't. We've been trying for eight months and still nothing has happened." Ron paused to sigh, leaning back in his seat to look at her before continuing. "So I know for a fact that I'm not the reason why we can't conceive. The problem has to be something going on with you, in _there_." He said while pointing towards her stomach.

She scoffed again. "Look Hermione you're an only child and you even told me yourself that your mum had two miscarriages back when you were a kid. Obviously your family has problems with fertility. And if you're not pregnant by now, you might just have to accept the fact that there is something wrong with you too. Hey! Where are you going?" He said as she stood and began to exit the kitchen.

"Fuck you Ronald Bilius Weasley. I'm going to bed. Don't you dare even think about following me. Enjoy your time on the couch tonight you...you... insensitive fucking bastard!" She raged as she stormed up to their bedroom and locked the door.

 _Screw him_. _He can wait to find out what the hell I'm doing tomorrow. That's if I even decide to tell him at all,_ she thought angrily to herself, as she prepared herself for bed. After changing her clothes and brushing her teeth, she pulled herself over to her bed and climbed beneath the covers. She was surprised by how tired her body actually was. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was plunged into a sea of darkness, as sleep overtook her.

* * *

 **Malfoy Manor - 27 October 2006**

"Draco, are you coming to bed darling," his wife said as she stood in the doorway to the library.

 _ **Shut up bitch!**_ The voice in his head bellowed in response.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he began to massage his temples, to assuage the migraine he'd been nursing since he'd left the ministry the day before. He'd been locked up in his family's library since yesterday afternoon when he found the book— ' _Werewolves: Understanding the Beast_ ' — and began to read it. After reading it cover to cover three times, he found himself getting angry as hell that the book didn't seem to have any answers to the questions that he had. He'd even gone so far as to search for any other book his family's library could possibly hold on the subject. But they all were alarmingly absent of any kind of helpful information. In fact, every book he came across— in regards to his class of magical being— was complete and utter trash.

It was easy to see how everyone around him could revere him with fear when books like this were on the market. The racist piece of shite was filled with nothing but anti-werewolf propaganda.

After looking at the authors' name on the back cover he grimaced when he saw that it was written by a _wizard_. Of course it had to be written by a wizard, he growled in irritation at the discovery. He ruefully had to admit that wizards knew absolutely nothing when it came to werewolves. And no publishing company would deal with a werewolf on the business level required in order to publish a book. Not to mention, werewolves were naturally secretive beings. They hated sharing their race's secrets with anyone that wasn't a wolf.

So Draco was at a loss.. he had all of these questions and no one to go to. It honestly made him wish he had spent more time with Remus, when he defected. Now both he and his cousin, Tonks, were gone. And there was no way in hell, that he would ever consider going to the werewolf that sired him for the answers that he sought. Besides, after what Draco did to him, he honestly couldn't blame the beastly wolf, if he didn't want to talk to him anyway. Fuck! Fuck! _Fuck! What in the hell is any of this even suppose to mean?_ He thought ruefully to himself.

 _ **It means she's**_ **ours** _**you idiot!**_ The voice growled out.

 _Who? Astoria? Of course she is, she's my wife._ Draco thought back in irritation.

 _ **Not her you dim witted fool! The witch from yesterday! She's ours!**_

 _Whoever you are, you need to know that Hermione is_ not _mine. And unless you're secretly Ronald Weasley, which I highly fucking doubt! Then I doubt that she's yours either._

 _ **She**_ **is** _**ours you fool. Couldn't you smell it? She's ours!**_

Lifting his eyes up from his hands, Draco took in the sight of his wife as she stood there before him. He hadn't even noticed that she crossed the room and came over to him. She stood before him dressed in a red silk negligee that barely covered anything, her nipples were pebbled beneath the thin layer of fabric that covered them— due to the chilled air of the library— she had a black silk robe draped loosely over her shoulders, no doubt in an effort to entice him while also vaguely attempting to preserve her modesty.

He had to admit, she _did_ look ravishing, and he began to find it extremely alarming that he wasn't able to have a physical reaction to her. Here was his beautiful wife standing before him, with the thinnest of fabrics adorning her luscious body, leaving it on full display for him and his viewing pleasure, and his little Draco hadn't budged slightly, not even a little bit. Draco tried to shake those thoughts off as best he could.

He didn't know whether or not his ability to physically react to his wife was due to this sudden development with Hermione, or because he had been stricken with a sudden case of impotency. _Fuck!_ What the hell was going on with him, he didn't need this. What he needed was to focus, he absolutely could not allow anything to distract him. He could _not_ go into this meeting tomorrow with Hermione, without at least trying to find out more about what was going on with him. And why he had begun to hear that weird voice in his head that kept telling him to _take_ her and _dominate_ her.

Draco gave her his best smile and told her, "I'll be up in a minute Stori. I'm in the middle of researching something very important."

"Oh honestly, Draco!" She whined in an exasperated tone. "How are we ever supposed to create the next Malfoy heir if you stay locked away in this dingy library all day and night." She whined, pouting out her bottom lip and widening her eyes to imitate a child.

 _ **She could never carry our child. She's weak... and pathetic.**_

Draco was starting to get irritated. He really _really_ didn't need this. He didn't need Astoria trying to guilt him into a shag when he had more important things to do. He also didn't need this voice in his Merlin's damned head snarling and snapping at her mere presence, either. Trying his best to suppress his burgeoning annoyance, he chanced a look at his petulant wife and gritted his teeth as he began to speak, "Astoria, darling, I just told you a moment ago that I would be to bed momentarily, but only once I've found what I'm looking for. This research is extremely important, so please try to understand. And honestly Stori, do try not to whine. It's very unbecoming for a lady of your standing."

She gave an indignant humph before she turned around and stomped her way from the library. _Great, she isn't going to let me touch her for months now,_ he groaned inwardly to himself before vacating his seat on the lounge.

 _ **Good! She isn't good enough to be ours! We need the witch from yesterday! Stop denying her as ours, before I take the matter into my own hands.**_ The voice snarled in response to Draco's thought.

"For the last fucking time, Hermione isn't mine," Draco growled out loud in response.

 _ **Yes she is, you imbecile!**_

 _She's fucking married for Merlin's sake! And if you haven't noticed, so the hell am I!_

 _ **That's of no importance to me. I**_ **don't** _**want your scrawny little wife, I want Hermione. And as for our witch's husband, I'll kill him if I have to, in order to have her. She's OURS! She's the only one even strong enough to be ours!**_

He began to pace back and forth in thought. Draco tried to shut the voice out of his head, so he could focus on what he did know, instead of what he didn't. And what he knew was whatever it was that was going on with him, it had to do with being a werewolf. He also knew that everything that had happened so far, was also tied into seeing Hermione yesterday, for the first time since Harry's funeral.

But that didn't leave him much to go off of. He thought back to the last time he'd seen her, and remembered that they hadn't actually spoken to one another then, due to the fact that Draco wanted to keep his distance from both her and her husband. Partly from the guilt he felt for being the only one to survive the attack, while Harry died, but mainly due to the fact that he really didn't want to get into a row with his partner's best mate, at his bloody funeral. The least he could do for Harry, was to make sure his service went by without incident.

He still didn't understand. What was so different about then and now? Was it the fact that he spoke to her this time? Or was it because he touched her when he bumped into her? He had so many questions, and no one to answer them. It made him want to bash his fucking head into the wall.

No. He couldn't allow himself to give up. He would never figure out what the problem was, if he did that. So instead of bashing his head into the wooden bookshelves like he wanted to, he walked over to the shelf where he'd retrieved the first book that he picked up yesterday when he came home, and began to look through the other books that laid there _again_. After scanning through a couple of the shelves, and _still_ finding nothing that could aid him, Draco decided it would be best if he searched the entirety of the library once more for any and every book that he could've probably missed, in reference to werewolves.

After he searched the library from top to bottom, and came up empty handed, he began to panic slightly. How could he handle this problem, if he didn't know what the hell was going on. Hoping that he could've just missed something, he walked back over to where he laid down the book, _Werewolves: Understanding the Beast_ , and tried to read it once more. As he continued to stare at the words on the parchment, his vision began to blur around the edges, his exhaustion finally catching up to him as sleep settled in. It was there in that dreamscape that he saw her.

 _She wasn't making a sound as he entered her house, but then again, she didn't need to. He knew she would be here, his wolf scented her out. All he had to do now was follow that delectable scent that emanated from her as well as the sound of her racing heartbeat. He found her by the window, hugging herself as she stared out into the night sky._

 _He stealthily began to approach her, not wanting to frighten her as he crept across the floor boards like a predator stalking their prey. The closer he came, the stronger her delicious scent became. Coaxing more of his lupine side to come up to the surface. As soon as she was close enough, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close._

 _She squealed in delight as she sank into his embrace. Unraveling an arm from around her waist, he reached up to pull her hair to the side, exposing her tender neck to him. He dipped his head into the curve between her neck and shoulder and began to nuzzle her there. Instinctively knowing that this would be the place he would mark her as his mate. Bringing his mouth to it, he began to kiss and lick her along the soft unblemished skin there. She smelled absolutely divine, as her scent began to permeate the air around them. She smelled of daises, rain, vanilla, and arousal. The musky scent of her arousal mixed with her natural scent came together to create a indescribably intoxicating aroma._

 _As he ravished her neck, she began to moan._

 _"Mmmm Draco," she purred to him, while opening up her neck to him more._

 _He couldn't suppress the groan that escaped him when his cock began to throb at the sound of her voice when she spoke his name. He wanted to hear her screaming it, moaning it over and over as she came on his cock. His hands began to travel up the sides of her body, slowly and deliberately, until he reached her breasts. They fit perfectly in his palms as he molded his hands around them, and began to massage them. Stopping every so often to tweak her nipples through the thin material of her satin nightgown._

 _He growled in delight as they began to harden and pebble under his touch. The soft moans that escaped her mouth only served to egg him on further. Keeping his face perched up in her neck, he stepped back slightly to reach up and pull the thin flimsy straps of her nightie, over her shoulders and down, causing the nightdress to slip down her delicious frame, and pool around her ankles. From his previous ministrations, he already knew she wasn't wearing a bra, and was delightfully pleased to see that the same could be said for her knickers._

 _Pulling her back snugly against his chest, he reached around and grabbed one of her breasts in his hand and began to massage it, as his other hand began to snake down the front of her body. Heading towards the one place he wanted to be more than any other. As soon as he reached her mound he cupped her sex in his hand and relished in the warmth that radiated from it. Separating the lips of her cunt with his index and ring finger, he slipped his middle finger between her folds and released a deep growl when he felt just how wet she already was._

 _"Fuck, you're so wet for me love," he growled out and into the crook of her neck. She moaned in response, as he gathered her juices onto his finger and began to circle her clit. She shivered at his ministrations, and her moans began to grow louder. His cock began to strain painfully against the fabric of his trousers, as he worked his magic on the beautiful woman before him._

 _He couldn't take it any longer, he needed to taste her. He spun her around and yanked her naked form up into his arms. She encircled his torso with her legs and buried her face into the crook of his neck as soon as he did so. He walked them over to the bed on the opposite side of the room, carefully placed her down on the covers, and began to rid himself of his clothes. Flinging each of the offending garments unceremoniously onto the floor, until he stood before her, naked as the day he was born._

 _He could see her watching him through half lidded eyes as he began to crawl over her body, placing both of his arms parallel to one another on either side of her head. Her chocolate curls were fanned out on the pillow beneath her head, her face was flushed red with her arousal, and her heart shaped mouth was formed into a perfect 'o' shape as she looked up at him with her whisky coloured eyes. He couldn't help himself from leaning in to kiss her. Starting off with a chaste peck before deepening it, her lips tasted of apricots and dates as he devoured her mouth in a possessively aggressive manner. She returned his kiss with equal fervour, taking from him as much as she gave. Suddenly she turned her head away from his lips and began to weakly protest against his actions._

 _"Draco...we shouldn't be—oh! W-we shouldn't be doing this. Y-you're a m-m-married man.."_

 _He stopped his ministrations on her body, and attempted to look her in her eyes. Hermione denied him by turning her head to the side._

 _"Look at me love. Please." She turned her head back towards him, and he continued, "I know you're scared. I also know that you've never done anything like this before. Neither have I...Now contrary to what you may have thought, I have never cheated on my wife before. Just like how I know you've never cheated on your husband before. But I won't sit here and deny myself or my wolf, the way I feel for you. I know the situation we're in right now isn't ideal. But you must believe me when I tell you that you and I were destined to be together. So please don't be afraid of what we're doing right now. It is our destiny." He waited for her to make a rebuttal, but when none came, he took that as her consent to continue, and returned to kissing her._

 _He began to move his kisses further down her body, only stopping to suck and nibble on her nipples upon his descent. Once he reached her core, he dove right in, taking her clit into his mouth and suckling it. Her legs began to squeeze his head, so he reached beneath her thighs and wrapped his arms around them and yanked them apart. Allowing himself more access to her wet delicious folds. Flattening the plane of his tongue, he leaned in and gave her one long lick from her arsehole and up to her clit, just before he began to fuck her cunt with his tongue. Licking and tasting every inch he could reach with it. He released one of her legs from his grasp and began to massage her clit as he shoved his tongue in and out of her hot cavern._

 _He knew she was about to cum, when she reached down and grabbed a hold of his blond locks in her hands, and began to push his face further into her core. His name rolled off her lips like a prayer, as she became undone, thrashing and writhing beneath him like a woman being exorcised of a demon. He lapped up every ounce of her release, drinking it down like a finely aged wine. He crawled back up her boneless frame and kissed her deeply, sharing her essence with her, as he lined his cock up at her entrance._

 _He swallowed the moan that escaped her mouth, as he sheathed his cock up to the hilt inside of her. He released a low growl of pleasure at the feeling of her tight hot cunt pulsing and contracting around him. And in that moment all of his previous self control was thrown to the wind, and he began to pound his cock in and out of her. Her moans strained off into a string of pleasured curses, as he continued to grind his cock into her as deeply as he could._

 _He could feel the cum beginning to make its way from his bollocks and as if on instinct he felt himself inching closer to the place his wolf wanted to mark her. Once he reached it, he inhaled her scent once more and kissed her there, he knew it was time. His teeth began to descend into his wolf's vicious fangs, and he felt the overwhelming urge to bite her. And bite her he did. As he sank his teeth into the soft skin of her neck, he felt the walls of her cunt begin to squeeze around him, and he buried his cock as deeply as he could and filled her with his seed. He continued to pump into her throughout his release, while he drank her blood freely from the wound on her neck, only stopping once the last spurt of cum left his body._

 _He licked her wound to seal it with his venom and began to whisper into her ear._

 _"I've waited my entire life for this. You complete me. Tell me you love me."_

 _"I love you."_

 _"Tell me you want me."_

 _"I want you."_

 _"Tell me you're mine and no one else's."_

 _"I'm yours Draco. I'll always be yours." She whispered reassuringly into his ear._

 _"Good." He muttered softly into her ear. "You're mine now Hermione, you're mine from now until the end of time."_

Draco awoke with a start. He looked around the room and sighed in relief when he saw that he was still in his family's library. _Fuck, that felt so real_ , he groaned to himself, just before he noticed the wet spot directly in the front of his trousers. He couldn't believe that he had a wet dream, like some sort of randy teenage whelp that just hit puberty. Draco grimaced at the wet feeling he had in his trousers as he rolled his shoulders and tried to stretch. Glancing over at the grandfather clock in the library, he blanched when he saw the time. In less than an hour Hermione would be here and he hadn't even worked out a plan for how he would interact with her at this meeting. Especially since he just had a rather vivid and extraordinarily detailed wet dream about her.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I couldn't help myself, I had to give you all chapter three ;).**

 **I hope you all like it. Smut ahead guys.** ** _Very_** **confusing smut. But this is what my muse told me to write..**

* * *

 _ **Malfoy Manor- 28 October 2006**_

Draco ran to his room, and gave a sigh of relief when he found it to be completely empty and his bed made. _Good! I'd rather not argue with Astoria about last night. What would I even say to her? 'Sorry about last night love, I was caught up in trying to figure out why I can't stand to be near you, and why I want to screw another woman's brains out.'_ Nope that was something to be shared once he actually wrapped his mind around the situation himself. He roughly ran his hand through his disheveled locks, and headed off into the bathroom for his shower. He needed to stop thinking about Astoria and prepare himself for his meeting with Hermione.

Draco stepped into the hot stream of water, and his mind began to wander. Flashes of his dream came surging forward in his thoughts and he couldn't contain the lusty groan that escaped his mouth. The dream had felt so real to him. Almost to the point of feeling like a premonition. Every touch he made across her skin, the heady scent of her arousal, even the taste of her blood. It all felt way too real, and he would've sworn it was reality if he hadn't woken up in his family's library.

Draco could feel his cock begin to harden as his brain began to thrust forth a chorus of different images from his dream, to the forefront of his mind. Hermione writhing beneath him while she moaned his name like a ritualistic chant. The feeling his body had when he came deep inside of her. His dream had felt like heaven to him, and though he ultimately felt relieved that it hadn't actually happened, he couldn't help but to also feel a little sad about it as well. He pushed those thoughts away and tried to focus on how he was going to handle this.

He wanted someone to help him. But no one aside from himself, knew about him having all of these depraved thoughts of Hermione, and he had no idea who he could speak to about it. Draco's options were very limited, because most of his 'friends' had abandoned him once his status as a werewolf became public knowledge. Blaise, Marcus, hell even Crabbe and Goyle. Everyone had distanced themselves from him, all except for the one friend he'd had since they were in nappies, Theodore Nott.

 _Theo! I could talk to Theo about all of this!_

Draco hurried through the rest of his shower and scrambled to his closet for clothes to put on. He settled on a dark coloured ensemble consisting of a grey turtleneck and black trousers. After getting dressed, he checked the time, _Okay, I have about forty-five minutes until Hermione is supposed to get here. That's more than enough time to talk to Theo!_ He walked over to the fireplace within his room, and grabbed a handful of floo powder. Urgently tossing the powder into the fireplace, he shouted "Nott Manor" before peaking his head into the green flames and calling out to his friend.

"Theo...Hey Theo are you there?"

His friend's face suddenly appeared in the flames.

"Oh if it isn't my little Drakie Pooh," he laughed. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"As much as your homo-erotic behaviour amuses me. I have a rather serious matter to discuss with you. It's urgent and I need your advice."

"Oh alright alright Mr. Big Bad Wolf, I'll cut the shit since you're obviously not in the mood for it." He joked once more before straightening up. "So what's this serious matter that you need my advice for? What's going on Draco?"

"Well I had the weirdest experience two days ago, and it left me feeling rather alarmed. So alarmed that it prompted me to come home and research what happened, now I'm even more worried than what I was before and—"

"Woah, slow down mate. Tell me everything from the beginning with as much detail that you can spare." With that, Draco began to spill his guts and after twenty-five minutes had past, he managed to fill Theo in on everything that happened.

"Fuck mate. That sounds serious. And you still haven't been able to figure all of this shit out?"

"No, and so far you're the only one who knows about all of this besides me."

"Though I'm honoured you would share this with me," he said sarcastically before continuing, "I fail to see what it is that you expect me to do about all of this?"

"I expected you to at least _try_ and help me, by giving me some of your great sage wisdom." He responded just as sarcastically as his friend. "Please Theo, she'll be here in about twenty minutes for our meeting and I still don't know what I'm going to do. I _really_ need help."

"I don't know what to say mate, you're kind of just springing this on me and I need time to brainstorm on this."

Draco released a throaty groan. "That's really _not_ what I wanted to hear."

"Look mate, what else do you want me to say? _You_ don't even know what the problem is yet. Listen, I'm going to try my hardest to help you, but I don't know how just yet. _That's_ why I need time to think."

"I'm not proud to admit this but Theo, I'm bloody scared... you didn't hear what that sodding voice said that he wanted from her. And those books... fuck man... they did absolutely nothing to fucking help me! If anything their lack of helpful information scared me more than anything. I don't want to hurt her Theo. I don't know if I could live with myself if I hurt Hermione. Or worse...what if this beast takes control of me and tries to do _something_ to her?"

"Is it too late to cancel the meeting?" Theo asked with a concerned look on his face.

Draco looked at the clock, and noted that he had a little less than ten minutes til she was set to arrive there.

"No Theo... she'll be here in less than ten minutes."

"Oh, I just had a thought Draco! I don't know if it'll work, but it's the best I can do on such short notice."

"Okay shoot. What's your idea?"

"Do you remember how Snape taught us occlumency during the summer before sixth year?"

"Yes..? What about it?"

"Try and see if you can use those shields you learned, see if it'll help you keep the wolf trapped in the back of your mind? Like instead of keeping someone out, try to see if you can use it to keep that thing trapped inside. I mean, I don't know if it's ever been done before, but I think you might as well see if you can give it a shot."

"Okay I'll see if I can do it." He said with a newfound feeling of hope. "Hey Theo, thank— his words were cut short by the cracking sound of apparation. He looked over his shoulder to see his house elf Dotty standing behind him.

"Master Draco, yous has a guest waitings for yous in the entry hall."

"Thank you Dotty, I'll be there straight away." And with another crack, the tiny house elf was gone. Turning his attention back to his friend, he looked back into the green flames to see a worried look etched across Theo's face. "Well...like I was saying. Thank you. Now wish me luck."

"Good luck mate," Theo said sincerely before waving goodbye and ending the floo call.

Standing up from the fireplace, Draco began to dust imaginary dirt from his clothing and began his journey downstairs to collect Hermione. He could feel his heart pounding away within his chest, from his anxiety. _I can do this, I can do this_ he repeatedly told himself as he got nearer to the entry hall.

 _ **She's here...**_ the voice growled from the back of his mind. _**I can feel her presence...**_

Draco's steps halted almost immediately, and he decided to try Theo's suggestion. Tossing up his strongest occlumency shields, he waited another moment, trying to listen and see if the voice would come back and say anything more. When he heard nothing, he decided it was safe enough to continue on. He reached the entry hall quickly, entering the hall with an apology already on his lips.

"Good afternoon Hermione, I'm sorry to have kept you waiting." He said while trying to appear calm. Draco could feel his wolf beginning to claw into his occlumency shields while he spoke.

"Oh it was no issue at all Draco. Your house elf, Dotty, was fabulous company. She's a sweet little thing."

"Yes, I've had her since I was a boy. Being an only child and all, Dotty was sometimes the only playmate I had. I'm very fond of her, so I make sure she's treated well." She smiled at his words and he felt his heart begin to swell. _She looks so beautiful when she smiles._

"That is very sweet of you Draco, I'm certain she returns the sentiment."

After nodding to her, he offered her his arm. "Shall we head off to my study and begin our meeting?" He asked in a mildly shaky tone.

"Yes, of course" she responded while gracefully accepting his arm and they began their journey back to his wing.

* * *

Hermione couldn't help but to appreciate the beautiful architecture of Malfoy Manor. She really had to admit that the place was quite gorgeous. She wondered how she missed it the last time she was here but chalked it up to her being unable to notice it all due to exactly _how_ her time was spent the last time she was here. _I guess being tortured and fearing for my life will do that to you_ she thought sardonically to herself as she walked arm and arm with Draco.

The Manor was huge, as Hermione soon discovered, while they continued to walk to Draco's wing of the Manor. She glanced at him as they walked and noticed he wore a pained expression on his face. _I wonder what's wrong with him._ She wondered while they walked, _He's probably still upset about the other day_ she decided as they continued their journey, in silence.

"The Manor is very beautiful, Draco. It looks like something out of a fairytale." Hermione said in a quiet voice, deciding to break the silence they were in.

"Thank you," he replied in a strangled tone.

Hermione froze at the sound of his voice, as concern began to fill her. He sounded like he had to strain those words out of his mouth.

"Draco—" she started before being cut off.

"Ahh. Here we are." He said as he guided her up to a tall wooden door. "This, is my study Hermione" he continued as he opened the door and guided her inside.

Once inside his study, she looked around in awe. The room was so massive, she was certain she'd be able to fit both her bedroom AND her guest room into this one space. He led her over to one of the couches, that rested right beneath a large window overlooking the gardens. After peering out of the window for a second to take in the beauty of the garden as well.

"Are those—"

"Albino peacocks? Yes. My mother simply adores them."

"I can see why. They're gorgeous."

"And extraordinarily rare as well."

"Shall we begin our meeting?" She asked, tearing her eyes away from the majestic birds and looking to Draco again. She was shocked to see that he was now on the other side of the room, standing near the door. But even from this distance, she could see the thin sheen of sweat that had begun to form on his forehead, "Draco, are you okay?"

"Yes...I-I'm fine...would you be okay if I left you here for a moment while I go and take care of some urgent business." He groaned out in that same strained voice.

"Erm...sure Draco. I'll wait here for you."

"Thank you...it'll only take a moment." He replied as he walked back out of the room and shut the door behind himself.

"Curious...I wonder why he's behaving so oddly." Hermione wondered to herself out loud.

Hermione took a look at the large grandfather clock in the room and noted the time. Draco had been gone for nearly forty five minutes and she was starting to become impatient. She anxiously began tapping her stiletto on the white marble floor as she waited. Deciding she wasted enough of her time today, she stood and prepared herself to leave. As she began to cross the room and head over to the door she came in through, it burst open and Draco walked in.

"I was beginning to think you had forgotten about—" she began as he marched right up to her, and yanked her into an embrace. "What are you doing?"

All he did was growl in response. Hermione looked up at him in an attempt to read his face. That's when she noticed that his eyes were no longer their usual beautiful silver colour, but a lupine gold instead. This concerned her immensely, because accompanying his golden irises was a feral look adorning his usually angelic face— he looked beastly, like the wolf he turned into once a month. But before she could say anything further, she found herself being kissed by the man holding her. She froze from the shock of being kissed so suddenly, as his warm pink lips began lighting a fire in her stomach that she couldn't recognise. It was as if his kiss was making her hungry for more.

He kissed her passionately, enticing her into the kiss, coaxing her lips apart so he could meld his tongue with her own. In the space of a second, he had her lifted into his arms as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. He walked her over to his desk and laid her down on top of it, keeping his lips glued to hers the entire time. He left her mouth and began to trail kisses hungrily across her jawline and down towards her neck.

Hermione could hear him growling as he assaulted her sensitive skin, his animal-like behaviour made her hungry for more. She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him to her, in her sudden desire to have him be closer to her. Draco's hands moved to her blouse, and began to swiftly unclasp the buttons, snapping her out of her lusty haze as he did so.

"Draco—" she gasped out as he tore her shirt and bra into shreds, once he started to become impatient with the buttons that held the thin material together. "Draco...what are you doing? W-we can't do this... you have to stop."

He continued on as if he hadn't heard a word she said. Hermione put her hands against his firm chest and tried to push him away, but her efforts did nothing to stop him. Draco grabbed her hands and yanked them away from his chest, placing them both in his firm grasp as he held them to her sides, while he began his descent down her body. Kissing and licking her down into the hollow of her clavicle, before moving down to take one of her nipples into his mouth. She hated herself for the moan that escaped her lips as he suckled her sensitive skin.

He moved over to her other breast and repeated the action, before continuing down the plane of her abdomen. Stopping at her belly button and dipping his tongue into her navel. His motions stopped abruptly as he pressed his nose against the skin beneath her belly button, and inhaled several times as he trailed his nose along her skin, smelling her there. His sudden break in movement prompted her to try and reason with him again, when she realized she wouldn't be able to wrestle herself from his hold.

"Draco." She pleaded. "This isn't you... You know we can't do this... Stop."

" _ **No!**_ " He growled out, making Hermione flinch with the roughness of his voice.

He stood up from the desk, pulling her with him as he moved. Once she was standing he spun her around and bent her over the desk, all in one swift motion. She felt like an electric current shot through her body as Draco ground his erection against her bum, and trailed one of his hands slowly down her back. Not stopping until he reached the bottom of her skirt, and began to pull it upwards. Hermione couldn't believe what was happening and began to shout in protest.

"Please Draco! Stop! Don't do this! Please!" She screamed, pleading with the man she had begun to trust. "This isn't you! You wouldn't do this! I know you wouldn't! Please! No!" She continued screaming as he bunched her skirt up around her waist, grinding his pelvis against her knickers as he did. As he did so, it began to ignite another fire in her loins, and she wasn't so sure of whether or not she wanted him to stop anymore.

Hermione couldn't help herself as she began to cry. She couldn't believe Draco was doing this... that he was really about to _rape_ her. And felt ashamed of herself for actually _wanting_ to feel him inside of her. She felt him grab the thin material of her thong just before he tore it away from her body, causing her to release a startled gasp. Hermione could hear him as he took apart his belt and worked on the fastenings on his trousers. She could also hear them as they crumpled into a pool around his ankles. Though she knew he wasn't likely to stop, since he had already come so far, she began to plead with him once more.

"Draco...please... don't do this." She pled with him half heartedly, while ashamedly wiggling her arse against him.

Shamefaced at the relief she felt, as she felt him line himself up at her entrance. She held still as he grabbed her by the hips and surged forward. She unsuccessfully tried to bite back the pleasured groan she released as he fully seated himself within her wet warm channel. Hermione cried out in pleasure as he began to pump in and out of her, and she hated her body for responding this way as he continued to move within her depths. At this point, she wasn't even sure of whether or not she wanted him to stop anymore. And was contrite to admit that if he even _tried_ to stop now, she would probably attack him out of sexual frustration.

" _ **You're mine...**_ " he growled out in a husky voice " _ **You're all MINE...**_ "

He continued to growl as he fucked her, ramming his cock into her as deeply as he could. Her cries of pleasure soon ran off into pleasured sounding grunts as he repeatedly pounded his cock into her. She could feel herself growing wetter, as he reached beneath her and began to massage her pleasure pearl between his fingers, while the other hand began pulling the shoulder of her torn blouse down just before he buried his face into the crook of her neck. He licked the junction where her neck met her shoulder as he continued to fuck her. There was simply no denying the pleasure she felt as he took her, and she hated herself even more for it. She could feel the coils in her stomach tightening until she couldn't hold back any longer.

The orgasm she had was long, powerful, and more intense than any thing she had ever experienced before. As she came, she could feel the muscles in her cunt pulsing and contracting around him as he kept burying himself within her depths. She was still pulsating around him when she began to feel his movements become more erratic. And she knew he was about to cum soon.

Releasing a sigh of relief that it was all about to be over, she didn't notice his canines beginning to nip into the skin of her neck until it was too late. Draco bit into her neck like an apple and buried himself within her until he touched the mouth of her womb. She could feel his cock pulsing within her as he released his seed into her unprotected channel, and she could feel her tears being renewed.

Hermione laid there in shock as Draco released her neck and began to lick her wound clean. That's when the reality of what happened hit her with full force. She knew exactly what he had done, the moment he bit her. She'd spent more than enough time as a solicitor for the DRCMC to know what just happened. She tried to look at the situation from a solicitor's stand point. If what just happened was what she _thought_ just happened, then what he had done to her couldn't even be charged as a crime.

Under the BML, Draco was technically within his rights as a werewolf, when he took her and bit her. She had to remind herself that Draco was first and foremost, a werewolf, and as much as she would like to treat him like he wasn't. The truth of the matter was that was what he _is_. With that thought in mind, she came to a sudden realisation... Draco hadn't raped her, but _mated_ her instead, something she knew would bond her to him in one of the most ancient forms of werewolf magic.

Draco suddenly pulled out of her and stumbled over his trousers in his attempt to get away from her.

"Hermione, I can't believe I just...Oh gods...what have I done.." he cried out while looking at her form still laid out over the desk. "I-I'm so sorry" he sobbed as he pulled up his trousers and ran from the room before she could respond.

Hermione didn't know what to make of the situation. Her husband didn't even know that she was here, with Malfoy, how could she tell him what had happened or let alone what would happen as a result of him biting her. Draco had marked her, for what reason, she had no idea. But she knew the law and the law was clear. Anyone that found themselves being mated to a magical creature _had_ to honour the pairing, regardless of the person's current standing in regards to a relationship.

For magical creatures, having a mate was something they couldn't even control, and usually their mate would wound up being preordained for them through their species ancient magic. In fact a magical creature finding its mate, was deemed to outweighed the importance of marriage vows simply because the creature and its mate were bound by magic to one another. And if someone who was married found themselves on the other end of a mated pair, they would be forced to get a divorce. This was mainly due to the fact that mated pairs were unable to conceive without their mate, even if their mate wasn't a magical creature as well. Their fertility was directly tied to that of their mated.

All of this explained why she had been unable to conceive with Ron over the past year that they had been trying. Even though Hermione didn't want to admit it, the only reason why she had gotten angry with Ron the night before, for suggesting she might have fertility issues, was because she had already begun to believe that that was the case as well. And it hurt her that he could be so callous about a subject so sensitive for her. But at least now she knew the root of the problem she had with trying to conceive.

She had been unable to create a child with Ronald, because she was Draco's mate and she would only be able to have his children. This was the fate of anyone mated to a werewolf, which was why the BML even became a law in the first place. The Bonded Mates Law, was meant to help the magical creature secure their mate, even if they were still unwilling to acknowledge the bond after their mate had marked them.

As she touched the skin on her neck where Draco had bitten her, she knew there would be no fighting this. By this time next month, if Draco followed all of the proper BML procedures, she would be a divorced woman, and be officially listed as Draco's mate. But some how she knew that wouldn't happen. It was obvious to her, that Draco didn't understand the gravity of what he had just done, and she suspected that even though he was a werewolf, he more than likely had never been properly indoctrinated to werewolf society and culture. So it was almost a guarantee that he didn't know much about what he had just done.

She couldn't blame him for not knowing. Werewolves were usually indoctrinated by their sires, and she was pretty sure Fenrir hadn't shared much with him after he bit him. And werewolves typically kept the details of their culture hush hush, unless they needed help with something, i.e the BML. Hell, Hermione was even certain that had she not been a solicitor, who worked closely with magical creatures, she more than likely wouldn't know what the hell had happened either.

When she finally gathered her bearings, she picked herself up from the desk, and began to grab her belongings. All the while, feeling stupid for feeling bad for Draco, considering what he had just done to her. But she honestly couldn't help herself, especially after seeing how remorseful he felt about it afterwards. Once she transfigured a new shirt from one of the couch cushions in his study, she took a chance and called for Dotty, and was surprised when she arrived not one second later. Once the house elf arrived, she asked her to lead her out of the massive house, all the while wondering what the hell was going to happen now.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Due to the amount of work that's been piled up on me, I only had the chance to work on one of my stories & this was the one that ended up calling out to me the most. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work D: ..**

* * *

Draco couldn't even begin to believe what he had just done as he came to his senses, and looked down at the witch sprawled out across his desk beneath him. He still didn't want to believe it, even as he looked down and saw how they were still so intimately attached to each other. It wasn't until he felt the tight, wet heat of her quim as it contracted around him— in the aftershocks of her orgasm— that he finally allowed himself to panic.

He wanted to explain to her what happened, but he couldn't. How could he explain something that he didn't even know or understand himself? Honestly, he didn't even know how he got from point A to point B. All he knew was that one moment he was pacing the corridor just outside the door to his study, and the next, he felt as though he was being submerged in a sea of his own consciousness— drowning in himself until he no longer had control over what he was doing. It was as if he was playing second fucking banana to someone else, in his own damned body. And the next thing he knew, he was barging his way back into his study and stuffing his tongue down Hermione's throat.

There was no way he could explain that to her though, she'd no doubt think him some unhinged madman. Besides how could anyone even begin to try to justify _raping_ someone? The simple truth was that you couldn't. There was nothing justifiable about raping someone. So what else could he do besides separate himself from her tight heat as quickly as possible, and stammer out an apology before swiftly hauling his arse out of there. He couldn't stop thinking about what had just happened as he paced the emptiness of his bedroom. Draco wondered for a moment if he really bit her, but the sweet metallic tang of her blood on his tongue, squashed any doubt that he tried to hold onto. He was woe to admit that the sweet crimson liquid that he lapped from her neck moments ago was just as delicious as she smelled.

Draco recalled her scent when he first approached her in the entry hall earlier when she arrived. It was different today, and it was even more alluring than it had been two days ago. Somehow she managed to smell even more intoxicating than she had before. It was hard for him to even describe it, but her scent, it had changed. While it still held its delightful aroma of rain, daisies, and vanilla— it had become _sweeter_ somehow and was somewhat tangy? in its fragrance. Almost like a nice juicy peach once its reached it's peak of ripeness. It permeated in the air around her, and it only grew stronger the longer he stayed near her. Her scent was the last thing he could even remember before he went all barmy and lost control of himself.

He began to wonder what the fuck was so important about the way that she smelled? Why did it completely consume him, and make him go mad like a rabid _animal_? And _why_ in the fuck did it seem like that sweet, tangy fragrance was emanating directly from her stomach? All he could think of was how terrifying he must've looked to her while he was pressing his nose against the _soft,_ _tender_ skin of her belly _..._

 _Stop thinking like that you sick fuck!_ He admonished himself quickly. _Thinking that way is what got you into this situation in the first place!_

Draco just knew that he had to be going mad, or in the very least he had to have had some kind of mental illness. He knew he had been doing everything right. He took his wolfsbane on time every month and made sure to lock himself away before he turned each full moon. He did all of this so that he could keep the people around him safe. He did it all so no one would see him as a monster.. and yet all of the precautionary measures he tried to take for himself, did nothing to prevent this from happening. His mind kept going back to how he bit her, and how _wonderful_ she tasted, as he drank her fucking blood. _Ugh! Disgusting!_

Draco's mind was reeling from the entire experience as a whole. He was absolutely horrified with himself. Over this past year he'd spend as a werewolf, he'd never actually tasted human blood, and to have finally done so just a few moments ago, disgusted him beyond measure. What disgusted him even more was how much he had _enjoyed_ it. Draco felt like he was going to be sick.

He didn't understand how it could've even happened. Draco had never heard of a werewolf biting someone outside of the full moon, aside from Greyback, that is. Sure the full moon was eight days away, and he had always felt a little more on edge in the days prior to its arrival, but never had he done something like that. Never had he _raped_ someone as a physical response to the antsiness he felt with the approaching moon.

His mind kept reliving the experience, as if it were happening all over again. Every time his brain replayed what just happened he felt a twitch in his trousers. He didn't understand... he honestly didn't. How could he abhor what he had just done, _and_ feel aroused by it as well? It just didn't make sense! Surely this had to be a sign of madness, right? He was confused, angry, and disgusted with himself. The self loathing he began to feel in that moment was at an all time high. He felt even worse than he did in his early days as a werewolf.

Draco hated himself _and_ his Merlin's forsaken body, for feeling so content after he'd bitten her. It was as if a one thousand pound anvil had been lifted from his shoulders, the moment his teeth had broken through her skin. Why had he felt so pleased with himself as he laved his tongue over her savaged flesh? Did this mean he was turning into more of a beast than a man? Oh sweet Salazar, was he going to turn into an animal like Greyback, now that he had finally tasted human blood?

He began to yank on his hair in frustration as he continued to pace the length of his bedroom. Why was this happening to him? Why had he raped and _bitten_ the nicest person in his life? Bloody hell! What would his bite even do to her? Since he hadn't fully lost it and eaten her, then surely she would end up affected by his bite. But in what way, he wasn't sure.. Would she turn or be like Bill Weasley? He vaguely remembered Greyback telling him a year ago, right after biting him, that he was the only werewolf that had the ability to turn people whenever he wanted. But did that even still apply _only_ to him? After all, the only other werewolf he'd seen do something like this was Greyback. He remembered the two occasions he'd witnessed before defecting, where he personally saw Greyback rape and devour witches, on nights outside of the full moon. And he himself had just brutalised a woman in his study just moments ago. Surely this made him just as monstrous as the werewolf that turned him.

 _I should've just cancelled the bloody fucking meeting!_ He growled internally while angrily carding his fingers through his hair.

He could feel her departure the moment she left his Manor, and tried to take a few calming breaths at the knowledge that she'd at least made it safely out of his home— _no thanks to him_. Draco struggled as he tried to inhale calm breaths of air, but the thick feeling he felt in his throat prevented him from doing so. He groaned, eventually giving up on trying to use that calming method on himself, just before throwing his body backwards and onto the soft, plush mattress behind him.

Maybe he _did_ deserve to be fired from his job. It was obvious to him that he was the beast they clearly believed him to be. He didn't know why Hermione even wanted to help him, but he honestly couldn't deny that this experience had definitely been an eye opener for him. Draco could no longer deny that he was a monster, especially after the shite he'd just done to Hermione.

Then a thought struck him... why not just embrace the monster that he was? Perhaps he could leave this all behind and find a pack. Maybe if he finally stopped holding onto his human life and embraced his life as a werewolf, he would never be put in the position to do what he did, again.

With that thought, Draco stood up and approached the fireplace in his bedroom. He grabbed a fistful of floo powder and tossed it in before calling out to his family's solicitor. He had a few things to handle before he embraced his new identity.

* * *

 _ **Ministry of Magic- 15 December 2006**_

Hermione rubbed her sleepy eyes, as she sat at her desk going over paperwork. Slipping off her stilettos, she began to press her achy feet against the cold hard surface of the floor beneath her. A contented sigh escaped her lips as her hot skin made contact with the icy marble surface. Reaching her arms above her head, she began to stretch her spine. _God_ , she'd been feeling like complete and total shit these past few days, and she hated it! She absolutely _hated_ being sick!

She was sucked out of her thoughts when she heard the small hoot of the office's owl. It flew into her office and dropped off her _Daily_ _Prophet_ and a couple of letters before flying right back out the door. As she moved to grab her post to place it in the top drawer of her desk, she was met with a headline she hadn't expected to see.

 _'Pureblood Pandemonium: Malfoy's Divorce!'_

 _It is with shock that this reporter comes to you today with this sudden and shocking news. The Malfoys are getting a divorce, and no I'm not talking about the former Death Eater and his socialite wife, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. No. It's Draco Malfoy— war hero, turned werewolf— and his wife of four years, Astoria Greengrass that have petitioned for a divorce. If you're anything like me, then many of you might be asking, "What prompted such an abrupt split?"_

 _Fret not my dear readers, this reporter has all the juicy little tidbits of information right here and my source is someone with direct knowledge of these events! That's right readers, this reporter has an exclusive interview with none other than Astoria Greengrass and she shared with me the events that lead up to this couple's shocking separation._

 _RS: What is going on? We all thought you two were happy. Why have you decided to go your separate ways?_

 _AG: All I can say is that, nothing between us has been the same as it was before he was turned. So if he wants to be done with this marriage, fine! I'm happy to_ finally _be done with this farce of a relationship. All I want now is what I'm owed._

 _RS: Oh? So your ex husband was the one who filed for divorce then? Interesting. And what exactly did you mean by 'all I want is what I'm owed'? If you don't mind me asking._

 _AG: Yes, he was the one to file the petition. And no, I don't mind you asking. Well Rita, there happens to be a fidelity clause in our marriage contract. One that states, I'm to receive twenty five percent of the Malfoy fortune, should Draco prove to be unfaithful to me._

 _RS: Are you telling us that your husband has been caught philandering around with other women?_

 _AG: No, that's not what I'm saying, though it could very well be the case. What I_ am _saying though, is that I caught him sometime back in late October, banging some bimbo's brains out in his study._

 _RS: You can't possibly be serious! Did you happen to see the woman's face?_

 _AG: No, he was hunched over her and blocking her face from my view. But I honestly couldn't find the stomach to keep watching, especially after he bit her. It was disgusting and quite terrifying to say the least._

 _RS: He_ bit _her?! My goodness!_

 _AG: Yes, he bit her. Right here on her neck. (She pointed to the area between the neck and shoulder.)_

 _RS: Dear Merlin! I'm so happy that you're safe. Merlin knows what could've happened had he done that to you!_

 _AG: I know._

 _RS: What do the two of you plan to do now that you've divorced?_

 _AG: Well I plan on traveling the world to get my mind off of this madness. As far as my ex husband goes, I really don't know what he plans on doing now. But he did tell me he was done pretending to be something that he's not._

 _RS: Okay Ms. Greengrass, that was supposed to be my last question, but after listening to what you've just told me, I feel compelled to ask you this one final question. Would that be alright with you?_

 _AG: Yes, of course. Ask away._

 _RS: Now for the safety of wizarding England, do you think you would be able to tell us whether or not your ex husband is a danger to himself and others?_

 _AG: If I can be honest with you for a moment Rita, I always felt terrified of him after he had been turned. His constant attitude and overall demeanour used to have me constantly walking around on eggshells. But after seeing what he did to that woman, I have no doubt in my mind now that he's dangerous. I'm just lucky he didn't do that to me._

 _So now you all have the inside scoop on what happened, that ended this young Malfoy marriage. Now I'm certain you're all wondering what Draco Malfoy meant when he told his wife that he was "done pretending to be something he isn't", correct? Well based on what his former wife has shared with us, it leaves this reporter with the assumption that he means to follow in the steps of his incarcerated sire. This reporter thinks that the young Malfoy heir is finally ready to embrace his inner Lycan, and I don't know about you all, but I don't want him to 'embrace it' with me. I could be wrong, but Merlin knows this reporter isn't taking any chances. I'll be sleeping with my silver dagger every full moon, and I suggest you all do the same!_

 _Public and especially women, BEWARE..._

Hermione groaned as she slammed the paper down, unable to read it anymore. The article just went on spewing more garbage out about how everyone should be wary and cautious of Draco, and she couldn't bear to read such awful rubbish about him. It had been well over a month since the last time she saw him... well over a month since he... _mated_ her, and now she was finding out that his wife had _seen_ it all. Dear God, this had to be a bloody nightmare, of that she was certain! She internally thanked Merlin that she hadn't seen her face or that bitch Rita Skeeter would've had even more rubbish to print.

She began feeling angry towards Astoria, she could understand her anger at seeing her husband having what she assumed to be consensual sex with another woman. That would be enough to make any woman angry. What she didn't understand was her desire to smear his already fragile public image even more by sitting for this interview in the first place. Didn't she know that telling that wicked woman that he was dangerous, was going to destroy whatever positive image he managed to secure for himself when he fought for the light during the war?

Hell, she was the one who was raped and she still didn't think him to be dangerous. Even if she did think so, she still wouldn't want to see such malicious rubbish being printed about him in the papers.

Hermione began to wonder if the mating alone, was the reason why Draco and his wife were divorcing. No. That couldn't possibly be it. As Hermione had assumed previously, he hadn't come down to the Ministry in order to file his petition to have her. If he had, she surely would've known about it. Mainly because the Ministry would've already served her, her court ordered divorce papers by now. Could he possibly be doing what that wretch Skeeter suggested? Was he 'embracing his inner lycan', and if so, what the hell did _that_ even mean? Was he going to leave the wizarding world to go find a pack? She knew from the werewolves that she worked with previously, that the majority of them belonged to a pack. That it was an inherent need to belong to a collective, that drove werewolves to come together and form them.

Wait.. if he _was_ leaving in order to find a pack, where would he go? Would he leave the country in order to find a pack? _Ugh!_ Why did she even care so much? Hermione ruefully had to admit that in the time since Draco mated her, she had been fighting the urge to go to him. It was as if some unknown force was compelling her to seek him out, and unfortunately, her relationship with her husband was suffering because of it.

Since that fateful day back in October, Hermione hadn't been able to let her husband touch her. She was upset about this recent development in their relationship, because every time he would touch her, it made her skin crawl and her stomach ill. It was now to the point where she would physically recoil from his touch, just to spare herself the bout of sickness.

She never told Ron about what happened that day in Malfoy Manor, she just went home, took a morning after potion, and tried to bury what happened in the back of her mind. So naturally she chalked up the physical response her body was having, as the after effects of the way Draco had taken her the way that he had. Hermione thought it might've affected her psyche in a way she hadn't realised would happen. But now she wasn't so sure of that any more.

Simply because of the fact that about ten days ago, she had woken up feeling exceptionally randy, and for the first time since she left Malfoy Manor after being... _mated_... she thought that maybe now would be the time that she could finally get past whatever it was that was holding her back, from enjoying her husband's touch. She was sorely mistaken though, because the moment he touched her heated folds, she wound up being sick all over hiss chest. _Ugh_! Just thinking about being sick, made her feel nauseous.

Pushing those thoughts far _far_ away from her mind, she began to look through the rest of her post. The first was a note from her manager, the second was a letter from Luna, and the third... the third was from someone she hadn't expected, _Draco.._. She tore the letter open before she could decide against it, it was the first piece of contact that she had from him in forty eight days, and she couldn't help the fact that it made her happy to see that he wanted to reach out to her. She pulled the letter from its envelope and began to read his elegant script.

 _Hermione.._

 _What does one say after they've done what I've done? I honestly don't think there are words for it. I've written and re-written several versions of this letter and none of them seem to be able to properly convey how I feel. The coward in me just wanted to take it as a sign that I should just slip away, and not reach out to you. But I couldn't. I just couldn't do that. You deserve much more than that Hermione._

 _First let me start by apologizing to you. You have no idea how much I regret what I've done to you, and honestly, I have no excuses for my behaviour. It was disgusting and I'm ashamed of myself for having behaved like little more than a savage brute. It opened my eyes and showed me the monster that I truly am though._

 _Now this brings me to my second point. My departure from the wizarding world. I hope this letter reaches you before the news of my divorce undoubtedly breaks, but if it doesn't reach you in time, then I'm certain that by the time you do receive this missive, I will already be a divorced man, heading out into the wild in order to finally find a pack of my own. I know it may seem hard to believe right now, but I truly do apologize for my actions back in October. You have no idea how it haunts me, and even though I don't deserve it, I do hope that one day you can find it in your heart to forgive me._

 _\- Draco A. Malfoy_

Hermione sighed as she folded the letter back up and put it in the top drawer of her desk, along with her newspaper. So it was as she assumed, he was leaving in order to find a wolf pack. She was hit with an overwhelming desire to go to him, she didn't want him to leave without letting him know she wasn't angry with him. How could she be upset with him if he didn't even know what was happening, and now thought himself a monster because of it. Though she didn't fully understand what was going on because she wasn't personally a werewolf, she had worked with many of them in cases like theirs. Cases where they had bitten and marked their mate and wanted to invoke their rights under the BML, in order to have them.

She had to admit that she didn't know much about how it all worked, seeing as how she wasn't a werewolf herself. But the few werewolves that she worked with in the past, had shared enough details about mates for her to get somewhat of an understanding. Hermione knew that when a werewolf found their mate, they would be compelled to mate with them as soon as possible, no matter what. Sometimes even losing control of themselves, like Draco had, just to make it happen. She hadn't seen many cases like her own where both the werewolf and their mate were married at the time of the mating. Usually one of the parties were married or dating and the other was single.

Either way, once the werewolf came down to the Ministry and filed their petition to have their mate— the mated pair was typically together before the next full moon. _Why was that again?_ she wondered quietly to herself. It was such a curious situation. She hadn't ever seen a case where a werewolf was separated from their mate for as long as she and Draco had been separated. Usually after marking their mate, a werewolf would try to have their mate with them as soon as physically possible. She'd even seen cases where a werewolf came down to the Ministry within the same week that they marked their mate.

Hermione looked inside of the drawer, at Draco's letter and sighed. Grabbing a quill and a piece of parchment, she quickly scrawled a response. She hoped that her letter would be enough to make him feel better, but she refused to tell him that she knew about the mating bond. Hermione didn't want Draco fighting her husband for her. Though she knew she would never be able to have children with him, she loved him. They had been married for five years— having gotten married to each other a few years after she graduated from Hogwarts. And as much as she wanted to help Draco, she couldn't lose her marriage. No. She knew that if it was ever revealed that she was Draco's mate, then she would undoubtedly be forced to divorce her husband. And if that happened, she would lose both him _and_ his family. There was no way he would still want to be in her life if she was with Draco. She knew her husband, and she knew he would never be able to get past losing her to 'Malfoy'. Then she wouldn't have just lost one of her best friends, but both of them.

After finishing her letter, she considered calling for a Ministry owl before deciding against it. There was no need to draw unnecessary attention to herself and _whom_ exactly this letter was addressed to. Deciding to take a chance, she called for Draco's personal house elf, Dotty. Within a second the tiny elf had popped directly beside the leather office chair where she was seated.

"Dotty, do you know where Draco is?"

The elf nodded sheepishly before softly responding, "Dotty always knows where Master Draco is."

"Okay, great Dotty. May you take him this letter for me?" The small elf nodded before extending her hand to reach for the letter Hermione had written.

As soon as the letter touched her hand the house elf disappeared with another pop. Not even a second after the small elf left the room, her husband rounded the door jamb to her office, startling her out of her wits.

"What's got you so jumpy love?" Ron laughed.

"I'm not jumpy." She quickly protested while silently working to slow her explosive heartbeat.

"That's not what your ten metre jump in the air would suggest."

Hermione laughed nervously before changing the subject, "Not that I don't enjoy seeing you sweetheart, what brings you to this part of the Ministry?"

"Can't a guy come and surprise his wife with an impromptu lunch date?" He grinned as he walked further into the room.

As he approached her desk, Hermione remembered herself and hurried to stand up and close the top drawer of her desk as inconspicuously as possible. The suddenness of the motion caused her head to spin, and she just barely bumped the drawer closed with her hip just before she found herself spiralling towards the floor. The only noise she was able to hear before she faded to black, was the distant voice of her husband screaming her name.

 *****—*****

Hermione could hear her husbands voice talking to someone as she started to come to. She cracked open her eyes and saw him talking to a old man in healer's robes. She opened her eyes further and saw that she was in a hospital room, more than likely down at St. Mungo's. Clearing her dry throat, she drew her husband as well as the healer's attention to her.

"Hello there Mrs. Weasley." The healer started before walking away from Ron and over to Hermione's hospital bed. "How are you feeling?" He asked once he reached her bedside.

"I feel okay. Maybe just a little light headed, but other than that, I'm fine."

"Hmm." He said before turning around to face Ron, "Mr. Weasley, if you could step out for a moment, I would like to have a word with my patient please."

Ron's face went as red as his hair before he opened his mouth and bellowed to the healer, "Wha— I'm not leaving! That's my wife over there! Whatever you have to tell her, you can say it to me as well!"

"All the same, sir. It's for our patient's confidentiality. If she wants you to stay, then that's up to her. But until she says so, I'm going to have to ask you to go wait in the waiting area."

Ron looked at Hermione expectantly, waiting for her to tell the healer that he could stay. But the pointed look on her healer's face told her that what ever it was that he had to tell her wasn't going to be good news, so she decided to keep her trap shut and let the healer take the lead on getting Ronald out of the room. When her husband noticed that she wasn't going to speak up on his behalf, he turned around and stomped right out of the room, making sure to slam the door on his way out.

Once the door was closed, the healer shot a silencing charm at the door, and Hermione knew whatever he had to say was definitely serious. She looked at him and he returned her stare with the same intensity. Just as she was getting ready to say something, he began to speak.

"Well Mrs. Weasley, there's no easy way to tell you this, but you're pregnant."

"P-pregnant?"

"Yes according to our results, you're about nine weeks gone."

Hermione sputtered to find a response. This couldn't be happening! She had taken a morning after potion! How in the fuck had she still wound up pregnant.

"I'm going to assume that the child isn't your husband's considering the fact that you have that bite mark in the crook of your neck and shoulder."

 _Fuck! How had he even seen it! If he saw it, does that mean Ronald saw it as well?_ She anxiously wondered to herself. She was an expert with charms and the glamour charm she used on the bite was absolutely flawless. She absentmindedly touched the area on her neck where she had been bitten, and she could feel the bumps along her flesh where the bite had turned into fat pink scars. As if reading her mind, the doctor spoke once more and answered her unspoken question.

"Even the best glamour charms can't be upheld if the person that cast them is unconscious, Mrs. Weasley. Don't worry, I don't think your husband saw it." He paused before continuing, "Now if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been mated to a werewolf and when did you plan on telling your husband about this? You know as well as I do, that once claimed a werewolf will stop at nothing to have their mate."

"Look Healer...?"

"Niddleson."

"Healer Niddleson, my case happens to be a special case. The werewolf that marked me, doesn't want to claim me."

Healer Niddleson scoffed in response. "Believe what you want missy. But I highly doubt that he doesn't want to claim you. I've been in this field long enough to know that once a werewolf marks their mate and impregnates them, they want nothing more than to be with that person. Either you'll go to him, or he'll come to you."

Hermione was a little shocked to see that this healer knew so much about werewolves, and secretly marked that fact down in her head. He would be the perfect person to consult with on things that she still didn't know about the werewolf mating bond. But first things first, she had to know how this even happened.

"Healer Niddleson, how can this even be happening? I took an emergency contraceptive the same evening when I got home."

"Oh dear," he began softly, before placing a comforting hand on Hermione's shoulder, "Those potions, they don't work on magical creatures."

Hermione gasped in response. If what he said was true, then that would mean that the child that was currently growing in her womb was...

"So this baby... it's a werewolf as well then?" She asked the healer for confirmation. He simply nodded his head in response. They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments before the healer spoke again.

"Mrs. Weasley, let's discuss your options, shall we?" He asked her and continued before she could respond. "There's abortion, adoption, or if you want, you also have the decision to keep this baby for yourself."

Hermione didn't know what to say to the old healer as he stood next to her hospital bed. She was pregnant. There was a tiny life growing inside of her, that she had no idea about until a few moments ago. Her hand instinctively went up to cover her still flat stomach. Could she abort this baby? _Her_ baby.. her baby that was already infected with the werewolf curse.

Hermione immediately chastised herself for that thought. How could she fight for the rights of magical creatures, when she thought of their condition as a curse. And besides it wasn't like her baby had a choice in the matter of whether or not it would become a werewolf, it's genetics guaranteed that for him or her already. Could she really abort it because of that?

 _No_! Her brain immediately screeched.

"I won't abort my baby." She said quietly to the healer.

"I figured as much. But if I might make a suggestion, I believe you should tell your husband what's going on, because the moment this werewolf of yours, finds out that you're carrying his child, he _will_ seek you out."

"How do you even know all of this?" She asked him incredulously.

"Not to sound rude Mrs. Weasley, but your case isn't exactly new. I've seen this kind of situation happen plenty of times, down here in the hospital. I'm just telling you that I think it would be best for everyone involved, if you told your husband what's going on. You don't want him to get hurt when your mate finally comes to claim you."

"What the hell makes you so sure that he's going to come and 'claim me'?" she asked him angrily.

"Trust me, I just know." Was all he said before he turned to take the silencing charm off the room and sauntered out the door.

Once he left the room, Hermione took out her wand and reapplied her glamour charm. As she felt along the smooth skin of her neck, she finally let the reality of the situation to settle in. She was pregnant... and the tiny little baby growing inside of her, was a werewolf. She knew the doctor meant well, but he didn't know Draco like she did. Hermione held strong in her belief that the shame he felt for raping her, would continue to make him keep his distance from her.

She thought about her marriage and how she and her husband would never be able to conceive a child of their own. Maybe if the baby held more of her traits than Draco's, she could possibly convince Ronald that the baby was his. She would just figure out something to do once the baby got big enough to start his transformations during the full moon. She was shook out of her thoughts when the door to her hospital room opened and her husband stepped inside.

By the look on his face, she could tell that he was obviously still miffed about being told to leave the room.

"So what's the issue?" He asked her coldly.

"Ron.." she internally fought with herself for a moment before she let the words flow from her lips. "I'm pregnant."


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I'm in the process of editing a chapter from Little Dragon** ** _and_** **Against All Odds. Lordt, I'm tiredddddddd. And work has been murder lately. Buttttttttttttt here we are everyone! I hope you all enjoy chapter 5 of Mated.**

* * *

 _ **Hermione Granger-Weasley's Home: 15 December 2006**_

Draco felt like a complete and total psychopath as he stood in the wooded area behind Hermione's house. He'd been doing this almost every night since the day he bitten her. He knew it was wrong, sick even, especially after everything he'd already done to her. He knew he had no right to even try to be anywhere near her. There was no way for him to explain it though, he just felt like he was supposed to be _with_ her in some way. Like he _needed_ to be near her. But how in the fuck was he supposed to explain that to her? _Hey Hermione, I know I raped you a while back, but I hope you won't mind if I come over and enjoy your company?_ Nope. That was sure to get him a one way ticket straight to Azkaban.

And with all the thoughts he had been having lately, he was certain that Azkaban was a place where he probably belonged in the first place. Ever since the day he had taken her in his study, his mind had been plagued with images of him doing it again and again and _again_. In any and every position imaginable. He also continued to have the same blasted dream he'd been having since the day after he became enchanted with her scent.

It became a twisted cycle for him. To be tormented in every waking moment of his, with lewd fantasies of taking Hermione in every possible way, only to be subjected to the torturous images of him making love to her every night. The only thing he was grateful for, was the fact that he had stopped hearing that blasted voice in his head. But it was almost as if upon its disappearance, his own thoughts had become even more savage and animalistic in a way. He was almost certain that this was truly the beginning of him properly going mad.

In the days following his assault on her, he was surprised to see none of his former coworkers from the Auror department beat down his door in order to arrest him. Which could only mean one thing, that Hermione with her forever softhearted nature hadn't reported him to the authorities. This only encouraged him to fight the urge he had to be near her, even more. For how could he even dare to be near her, after what he'd done? So once he had written his letter to her, he swore that he would stop coming out here to her home. He swore that he would stop watching her from the woods like some fucking demented maniac. She deserved at least that much from him.

But then... she'd actually written him back.

He pulled the letter that she had written to him out of his left trouser pocket once more and began to unfold it. He had been shocked and confused when Dotty apparated into his bedroom earlier to deliver it to him. When he asked her how she got it, he was taken aback when she told him that Hermione had summoned her and asked her to bring it to him. His confusion came from his inability to explain away Hermione's ability to summon Dotty to her in the first place. After all, she was a Malfoy family elf. And as a Malfoy elf she was only supposed to answer to the call of a Malfoy. Though Draco wouldn't have put it past Hermione to have befriended the tiny creature in the short amount of time that they spent together. Maybe she had garnered his elf's favour in a way that only Hermione Granger could. He mused that that was more than likely how she got Dotty to answer her call.

His eyes scanned over the parchment again just as they had when Dotty first handed it to him. Even in the dark, Draco's enhanced sight allowed him the ability to read her neatly written response. He felt a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, as he read what she had written. He couldn't help but to admire just how thoughtful and kind she was, to have even written back at all. Especially considering the fact that she really didn't have to.

 _Dear Draco,_

 _I'm not upset with you or angry with you in any way, whatsoever. It's obvious to me that you regret your actions from that day, and it would be wrong of me to hold it against you— especially considering how remorseful you feel about it._

 _Once I received your missive, I knew I had to reach out to you and let you know exactly how I felt. And Draco, listen to me when I say this; I forgive you wholeheartedly for everything that you've done._

 _After reading what you said, I can say with confidence that I agree with your desire to find a pack. I really think that it would be a great thing for you to do. Particularly if you truly feel as though it would be what's best for you in the long run. I honestly think that it might be a great opportunity for you to possibly learn more about your kind and culture._

 _I wish you nothing but the best with this new venture in your life._

 _Sincerely_

 _Hermione Jane Granger_

Draco pressed the parchment to his nose and inhaled the scent it held once more. As he had already discovered earlier, it was different yet again. She still smelled like her delightfully delicious self, but now she kind of smelled a little like him as well? He couldn't be certain, but he was almost positive that he was now a part of her in some way. Well, in enough of a way for her to smell like him now. Pulling the parchment away from his face, he folded it once more and put it back into his pocket.

Draco ran his fingers through his hair and released a frustrated sigh. Had becoming a werewolf really damaged him so much, that it actually turned him into a fucking rapist _and_ a stalker as well? Never had he ever done anything like this before. And in the past Draco had had plenty of excellent _consenting_ lays well before he ever had gotten married to his wife, and never had he hidden in the shadows near their homes in order to watch them or be near them.

Now, here he was, at the house of the woman he raped, hiding in her bushes, waiting for her to come home. If him attacking her back in October hadn't been enough to make him a unhinged lunatic, then surely staking out her house afterwards, like it was a muggle bank that he was going to rob, certainly did. He looked at his wristwatch and checked the time. He saw that it was getting close to midnight and looked back up to the dark empty house. Draco felt his heart begin to race. Was Hermione okay? In all the time he had been coming out here to watch her, never had she ever been this late getting home.

Deciding that he could be overreacting, Draco reached into his pocket to retrieve his hawthorn wand and pulled it out in order to apparate home. Just as he was getting ready to leave, he heard the sound of the floo firing off within her home. He tucked his wand back into his pocket and began to listen to what happened within her home, just as he had for the past few weeks. Draco could hear her speaking with her twat of a husband, and he couldn't help but to roll his eyes at the sound of his voice.

"Hey, don't rush Mione! I don't want you losing your balance and hurting yourself or the baby!"

 _Baby?! Wait! So Hermione's_ pregnant? Draco thought angrily to himself with a growl. His jaw clenched and instantly his heart filled to bursting with an unknown emotion. He didn't even want to think about Hermione having that dim witted sod's kid.

"Ronald!" She laughed, "Calm down, will you. I'm pregnant, not invalid."

"I know. I know. I still can't believe it." Weasley responded in an awe inspired voice. "Nine weeks gone."

Wait.. nine weeks.. and in that moment everything just clicked for him... The scent on the parchment and her ability to be able to call for Dotty, even though she wasn't a Malfoy. He could've smacked himself for not seeing it sooner, Dotty hadn't gone to her because they managed to develop some kind of instantaneous friendship with one another. She had gone because of the baby in her womb. The baby that obviously had to be _his_. That was the only way Dotty would've answered her call. As soon as he allowed this thought to cross his mind, his brain held on to it for all it was worth. Hermione was pregnant and the child within her was his! He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he wound up missing the rest of their conversation, only really tuning back in as it seemed that the weasel was tucking her away into bed.

"Okay, okay Ron." She giggled in her melodious voice. "You've managed to get me all wrapped up in these covers like a burrito. I'm not made of glass, you know. I'll be fine just laying here."

"I know Mione. I just can't help the fact that I'm worried for you, especially after that little episode you had back in your office earlier. And I don't want to put too much stress on you and my son."

"Son?" She laughed, "Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? It could very well be a girl for all we know."

"And if it is a girl, she'll be every bit as beautiful as her mum." He paused and Draco could only imagine that he was kissing her. "Now you go on and get to bed, you've had a long day. I'm just gonna go downstairs and look over some of the books for the shop. George has his hands full with little Freddy being sick and all, so I told him I'd take care of it."

"Okay darling. Don't stay up too late." She said before Draco could hear a small rustling of the covers.

"I'll try not to Mione. But you know how awful I am at math. This could probably take all night."

"Well, why don't I just come down and help you, and then we can come back upstairs and go to bed together."

"NO!" He screamed out before quickly adding, "I'll be fine. You, on the other hand, need your rest Mione."

"Well, I don't know, it'll go by much faster if I come down there to help you."

"Are you insinuating that I can't do it by myself?" He snapped.

"What? No. I'm just trying to help. But if that's how you're going to be then I guess I _will_ stay up here. Good luck on your work Ronald, and goodnight."

"Uhh.. Goodnight Mione," he whispered before pausing briefly. "And goodnight to you too baby." He heard Weasley say, before he saw the light go out in the top right window.

He continued to listen, waiting to hear Hermione's breaths as they evened out, signalling her descent into slumber. As he stood there listening to Hermione's breathing, he allowed himself to go over everything he had just heard. She was pregnant with _his_ child. Holy fuck! He couldn't believe that something so pure and innocent as a child, would wind up being the end result of what happened that fateful day back in October.

After he had served Astoria with their divorce papers, he resounded himself to the fact that he would never be able to have a child of his own. That when he died, the Malfoy name would die with him. Though he admittedly didn't know much about his kind, he did know enough to know that werewolves, for some strange reason, couldn't reproduce with one another or with anyone for that matter— which happened to be the reason behind why many of his kind were like him, and had to be bitten in order to become a werewolf.

He wondered if she knew that the child was his? And if she did, would she even allow him to help her raise it? Hell, would she even allow him to be around her at all, after all he'd done? As his thoughts continued to rapidly fire off in his brain, he realized that he had been unconsciously inching his way closer to the house. _Fuck_! He needed to leave before he did something stupid again.

He scurried back over to the bushes where he was previously hiding and pulled his wand out again. He listened once more for her breathing and heard her lightly snoring away. He smiled to himself, and just as he was about to leave, he heard the floo in her home fire up once more. Confused, he listened closely to make sure her home wasn't being broken into, and he could hear the voice of her husband calling out for someone's house, but not just anyone's house.

"Lavender Brown's Flat," he heard Weasley call out softly, before following up with a, "Hey Lav, you there?"

Lavender Brown? What the bloody hell Is Weasley doing calling Lavender Brown at this hour? Draco wondered as he listened to the sleepy voice of Lavender respond back.

"I don't even know if I want to talk to you right now Ronald. Do you have any idea what time it is?" She scolded him through the call, and in that moment, Draco couldn't help but to grin mischievously, while silently thanking his heavenly stars for having his enhanced Lycan senses that gave him the ability to listen in on this conversation.

"I know Lav, I'm sorr—"

"Don't give me that shit Ronald Weasley. It's not me you need to be apologizing to! _I'm_ not the one you promised to see today."

"I said I'm sorry. Had I known what time I was going to get home tonight, I wouldn't have promised Winny that I was going to come over."

"Whatever makes you feel better Ron. But I just need you to know that the next time you promise my daughter that you're going to be here to tuck her into bed and read her a bedtime story, you _better_ be here to fucking do it! I won't sit here another night, watching her cry herself to sleep in bed while clutching her favourite teddy to her chest, all while she waits for you to come see her."

"Hey! She's _my_ daughter too! And I said I'm sorry! Okay?! I swear to you that I didn't mean to make Winny cry! I went to Hermione's office earlier to take her out for lunch and to lay down the ground work on why I was going to be getting home late this evening, and then she just fainted. I didn't want to miss my bedtime date with mummy and my little Winny either, but what else was I supposed to do? I mean honestly Lav, how the hell was I supposed to foresee my wife falling ill at work! I honestly can't be blamed for this one!"

"Oh toss off! You don't mean that."

"Don't mean what? That I didn't mean to make Winny cry? That I didn't mean to miss my bedtime date with mummy and Winny. Or that I couldn't help missing our dinner date?"

"All of it! My daughter and I aren't your dirty little secret you know! We deserve to be treated with some dignity and respect!"

"Well that might be about to change in the near future."

"What do you mean Ronald?"

"Please stop calling me that. I hate it when you call me by my name, it means your angry with me."

"Well... what can I say _Ronald_? I _am_ angry with you! And I will _continue_ to call you Ronald, until you explain to me what you meant by 'that might be about to change in the near future'?"

"Oh okay, okay. You know I'll do anything to hear you call me WonWon again," he said with a chuckle in his voice. "What I mean is, I finally did it! I finally got her up the duff!"

"You mean she's pregnant?"

"Yeah! We found out today actually, it was the reason why she passed out at work."

"And why was it important for you to do this again?" She drawled out in a tone that would've made his late-godfather proud.

"Because Lav, don't you understand? Once a wizarding marriage has produced a offspring, the couple can't divorce. So once she has this baby, she can't divorce me! Even if she found out about you and Winny, she wouldn't be able to divorce me!"

"And why exactly am I supposed to be happy about this again?" She asked in a bored tone.

"Lav, are you really that dense? Whose dime do you think I was taking you out on? Whose money did you think went towards helping to take care of both you _and_ Winny? We work in the same department at work. You know how much money I make. The money I get from her account is the only way I was ever able to even do anything for you. And now that she's pregnant, she won't be able to leave me even if she does find out about you. Which means, I'll still have access to her vault down at Gringotts."

 _Bastard! So that arsehole wants to have his cake and eat it too! I can't believe this pathetic little weasel is even willing to use my son in order to make it happen._

"Ohhhh." Draco heard her say before giggling. "Why didn't you just say that?" She said with excitement in her voice.

"Well I would've told you as soon as you answered my call, but it was kind of hard to do with you jumping down my throat and all."

"Oh I'm sorry about that my sweet little WonWon." She said in a sickeningly sweet tone before continuing, "Where is your wife anyway?"

"Well we just got back from St. Mungos a little while ago. And since she had a fainting spell earlier in the day, I just had her lay down once we got in. So she's probably asleep right now."

"Well why don't you go check and make sure she's sleeping and then come over here so we can have a _cuddle_."

Draco didn't miss the inflection of her tone when she asked for a cuddle. It didn't take much to put two and two together. He knew exactly what she meant by what she said, any red blooded male would know, and from what he heard Weasley say next, he did as well.

"I'll be right over, right after I check." The weasel said cheekily and then he heard the floo call fizzle out.

After some rustling around, he heard Weasley go through the floo without ever going to check on Hermione like how he said he would. This would prove to be his undoing though, because as if to spite his actions, Draco heard Hermione as she began to stir in her bed upstairs.

"Ron?" She called out.

Draco released an annoyed sound at the weasel's stupidity. And then almost suddenly a thought struck him. Maybe he could turn this situation to his favour. After all, the weasel just made it painfully obvious that Hermione meant very little to him. And he would be damned if that weasel bastard used his son in order to try and keep Hermione attached to him.

"Ron?" She called out once more, a little more loudly this time.

Draco shook his head, knowing her calls would go unanswered. Running a rough hand through his hair, he pushed aside all his feelings of shame and doubt and took a hesitant step towards the house.

* * *

Hermione walked back upstairs and looked around the spare room once more. Since waking up, she had no idea where her husband was. _Where in the hell could he be?_ She wondered as she began walking back into her bedroom. She went over to the window and began to peer outside. She looked out into the yard behind her home, before resting her gaze on the dark night sky. Her mind went back to the news she had received earlier and she began to think about her pregnancy.

She was pregnant with Draco's child, and currently he had no idea about it. Hermione began to wonder if she did the right thing by telling Ronald about her baby. After all, everything could potentially blow up in her face if next year in July, a baby with Draco's colouring comes out of her womb. Hermione's hand went to rest over her still flat stomach as she continued to think about her pending child.

Suddenly Hermione found herself releasing an excited squeal as she found herself being wrapped in a pair of strong, pale arms. Regardless of how sudden the move was, she felt herself relax into the hold. As her back pressed into the firm chest behind her, she knew whomever it was couldn't possibly be her husband. Her husband wasn't out of shape in any way, but his body was thin and somewhat lanky. The man behind her was firm, muscular, and quite solid.

 _Draco_.

Before she could do or say anything, she felt him pull her hair to the side exposing one side of her neck to him— the side that housed his mark— even though she had covered up with a glamouring charm, he still managed to find it. As soon as he had, he then proceeded to bury his face into the skin where he'd bitten her and began to nuzzle her there. She didn't know what was happening, but every time his lips ran over the bite mark, she felt a throb between her legs. She tilted her head a little to the side, unconsciously offering him more of her tender flesh. He eagerly accepted her offering of skin and began to kiss and lick her along the mark. Sending shivers down her spine with every stroke of his tongue.

She couldn't help the impassioned moan that escaped her lips as his mouth worked over her neck.

"Mmmm Draco," Hermione purred to him, while opening up her neck to him more.

She could hear him release a strangled groan after his name slipped from her lips. And his hands began to travel up the sides of her body, slowly and deliberately, until he reached her breasts. They fit perfectly in his palms as he molded his hands around them, and began to massage them. He began tweaking her nipples through the thin material of her satin nightgown as he moved them over her soft mounds of flesh— making her glad that she decided not to wear any underwear when she slipped the thin garment over her thin frame earlier in the evening.

Her response was almost immediate, as she could feel her nipples begin to pebble and harden under his ministrations. As he continued to work his fingers over the fabric housing her breasts, she could hear him release a throaty growl. And with the friction she was currently experiencing on her sensitive buds, she too, couldn't help the soft moans that escaped her mouth. And it seemed as though every whimper and moan that tumbled from her lips, only served to egg him on further in his exploration of her body.

While keeping his face perched up in her neck, she felt him as he stepped back away from her body slightly, and began to reach up and pull the thin flimsy straps of her nightie, over her shoulders and down. As a result, her nightdress slipped down her delicious frame, and landed in a pool around her ankles. Causing her to feel mildly shy, knowing that she was fully exposed to him now.

She didn't have too long to dwell on her shyness, before he was pulling her back snugly against his chest. With one hand, he reached around and grabbed a hold of one of her breasts and immediately began to massage her soft bare flesh. And with his other free hand, he began to snake his way down the front of her body to the apex of her thighs. As soon as he reached her mound, Hermione could feel him as he cupped his hand over her sex in his hand and she relished in the feel of his heated touch across her skin. She couldn't help but feel ashamed at the hiss that escaped her mouth, when he spread the lips of her cunt and slipped a finger between her moistened folds.

"Fuck, you're so wet for me love," Draco growled out and into the crook of her neck. Hermione could only moan in response, as he continued to gather her juices onto his finger and circled her clit. Her body trembled in response as her moans continued to grow louder. She could feel his cock as it began to press into the smooth, soft skin of her bum while he continued working her over.

Before she knew what was happening, Draco spun her around and yanked her naked form up into his arms. Instinctively, she encircled his muscular torso with her legs and buried her face into the crook of his neck as soon as he did so. He walked them over to her bed on the opposite side of her room, and carefully placed her down on the covers. Once she was situated and comfortable, he stood and began to rid himself of his clothes. She watched him as he flung each of the offending garments unceremoniously onto the floor, until he stood before her, naked as the day he was born.

She could see him as he began to climb over her body, before finally reaching her face and placing both of his arms parallel to one another on either side of her head. She watched in a daze as he leaned in to kiss her. Starting off with a chaste peck before deepening it, his mouth tasted like spearmint as he began to devour her mouth in a sensually aggressive manner. She couldn't help but to return his kiss with equal fervour, taking from him as much as she gave. She spread her legs more, offering him better access to her body, before a sudden image of red hair and blue eyes, flashed before her mind. And before anything could progress more, she found herself turning her head away from his, and she unconvincingly began to protest against his actions.

"Draco...we shouldn't be—oh! W-we shouldn't be doing this. I'm a m-married woman.."

He immediately stopped his ministrations on her body, and attempted to look her in her eyes. She couldn't bear to look into the stormy grey depths of his eyes, and denied him by turning her head to the side.

"Look at me Hermione. Please, I'm begging you." He whispered to her in a heated tone. Reluctantly she turned her head back towards him, and he continued, "I know you're scared. What I did to you back in October was simply inexcusable. And I don't know how else to say this without sounding crazy, but I just feel like we need to be together. Like I'm supposed to be with you. And I'm starting to believe that we're destined to be together. I know I have no right to ask you this, but please don't be afraid of what we're doing right now. I truly feel as though this is our destiny." Hermione's voice was caught in her throat at the sound of how sincere he was. When she didn't respond, he took that as her consent to continue, and returned to kissing her.

Suddenly his kisses began to travel further down her body, only stopping to suck and nibble on her nipples upon his descent. It was like some sort of divine form of torture. She shuddered once he reached her core. Anticipation of what was in store, causing her to tremble with need. Almost as if he could sense her desire, he proceeded to dive right in, firmly wrapping his lips around her and taking her clit into his mouth to suckle it. Instinctively her legs began to squeeze closed around his head.

She heard him release a growl of frustration, before he wrapped his arms around her thighs and yanked them apart. Giving himself more access to her waiting centre. She could hardly even think straight, let alone comprehend what was happening, when she felt him give her one long lick from her arsehole and up to her clit, just before he began to fuck her cunt with his tongue. He was devouring her completely, which was something she hadn't experienced the last time she'd been with him.

 _At the rate he was going, she wouldn't be surprised if he pulled out a straw and literally began to drink her feminine essence_ , she inwardly chuckled at the thought. She was shocked from her musings when he released one of her legs from his grasp and began to massage her clit, as he continued to shove his tongue in and out of her hot cavern.

When Hermione began to feel a tightening in her stomach, she knew she was about to cum. She found herself unable to stop her hands from reaching down to grab a hold of his soft blond locks in her hands. She pushed his face further into her core, and began to grind her mound against his mouth. As much as she didn't want to, she still found herself screaming out his name. And she continued to shout it out like some kind of ritualistic chant, as she became undone on his tongue.

She didn't even have time to be embarrassed by her thrashing and writhing beneath him— like a woman being exorcised of a demon— before he crawled back up her boneless frame and began to kiss her deeply— and she was slightly taken aback by how eager she was to return his affections. She was amazed by how turned on she became as he shared her essence with her, and she hungrily returned his kisses. She was so distracted by their consumption of each other's mouths, she barely registered him as he lined his cock up at her entrance and began to surge forward.

He swallowed the moan that escaped her mouth, as he sheathed his cock up to the hilt inside of her. She could hear him growling in her ear in response to feeling her tight hot cunt, pulsing and contracting around him. He moved slowly within her, almost as if he was relishing the feel of being wrapped up in her body, and she was more than happy to meet him thrust for thrust. She realised that whatever self restraint he might have had, was gone, because it was almost as if something snapped within him and he began to speed up his motions, pounding his cock in and out of her with each stroke. Her moans strained off into a string of pleasured curses, as he continued to grind his cock into her as deeply as he could.

She could feel him inching closer to the spot where his wolf had marked her. Once he reached it, she began to shudder as a ripple of pleasure course through her body, from the mark. Suddenly she could feel his teeth as they began to pierce her mark once more. Latching onto her sensitive flesh and causing her to come apart all over again. Her orgasm seemed to last for eons, as Draco lapped at the blood flowing from her neck. She felt him stiffen above her just before he buried his cock into her one last time and began to fill her with his seed. And remained seated within her as he continued to drink her blood freely from the mark he'd made on her neck, only stopping once the last spurt of cum left his body.

And then, he began to do what he'd done that fateful day in Malfoy Manor. He licked her wound to seal it with his venom. Hermione was somewhat startled when Draco began to whisper into her ear.

"You know Hermione, I had a dream somewhat similar to this a while ago..."

"You have?"

"Yes."

"W-what happened in the dream?" She asked him with trepidation in her voice. Hermione had no idea that Draco was having dreams about her, let alone dreams that entailed all of what the two of them had just done.

"Ehh.. it's unimportant now." He said nervously before continuing, "Hermione, I'm going to be honest with you here." He paused once more to release an anxious sigh. "I didn't come here to do... well... I didn't come here to do this." He said while gesticulating between the two of their naked bodies.

"Well _why_ are you here then Draco.. if you don't mind me asking."

He growled in frustration and she watched him as he carded one of his massive hands through his hair before he managed to speak again.

"Hermione, I don't know how to tell you this without you thinking I'm some sort of psycho."

"I'm not going to judge you Draco." She told him, wondering what he could possibly have to say, that he hadn't written in his letter. All the while, contemplating whether or not she would tell him about the child that was currently growing inside of her. His child.

"Hermione... I don't want you to freak out... but I've been coming out here every night, since... ehh... that uhh, afternoon."

She sputtered to find a response. Had he really been coming out here ever since the day he... _raped_ her? Finally, she found the words to speak. "Coming out here to do what exactly?"

"I don't have an answer to that just yet, Hermione. And in all honesty, I don't think I ever will. All I know is that I feel this intense _need_ , to just... just... be near you." He paused, and Hermione supposed he was waiting for her to add some kind of comment to what he'd just said. When she said nothing, he began to fill the silence by continuing. "And I know I apologized in the letter I sent you, but I have to tell you again. I'm sorry for all that I've done to you Hermione, I really, truly am. I never meant for you to get hurt, and had I known any of that would happen, I would've respectfully, declined to meet you. NO ONE deserves what I did, least of all you. And I know I don't deserve it, but I hope you can one day, find it in your heart to forgive me."

"Draco, I told you earlier, that I forgive you."

"I know, but I feel as though one could never apologize too much for forcing themselves on an unwilling party."

"Well, stop apologising sir, and accept my bloody forgiveness. And once you know how true my words are, I want you to forgive yourself. You didn't even know what you were doing and I don't hold it against you. So neither should you!" Hermione found herself yelling at the pale, muscular man beside her prone form.

"I don't.. uhh. Can we talk about something else please?"

"Yes, we can talk about where my husband is, and exactly _what_ you did to him, that I can't even find him in the house anymore." She shot at him, as another image of her husband surged forth into her mind along with the warning she received from that healer.

"Your _husband_ ," he sneered, "is off with his mistress right now."

"His, what?!" She balked, unable to hide the anger in her voice.

"His mistress—"

"Never mind. Shut your mouth, Malfoy." She watched his face crumble when she referred to him as his surname— something she hadn't done since the beginning of their seventh year. And she instantly regretted it, but there was no taking it back now, "My husband would never cheat on me."

"Hermione you have to—"

"NO! I'm not listening to another word you say! Get out! Get the fuck out of my house right now!" She screamed while she clenched her eyes closed in order to avoid seeing him. "I mean it Malfoy! You get the fuck out of—" her words were stopped short when she cracked an eye open on the sly and began to peak around her bedroom for him. She was somewhat surprised and a tad bit sad that her child's father was no longer there.

But he simply had to go! She wasn't going to let him sit around and lie about her husband and insinuate that he was philandering around with some stupid bimbo right now. Even if she did feel a niggling in the back of her head, that told her he might've been telling her the truth.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: This chapter is all about Draco you guys. Hermione's POV won't be featured in this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy 3.**

* * *

 _ **Malfoy Manor - 18 December 2006 9:30am**_

 _It's mine. The child, Hermione's child... It's_ mine _._ This thought rang through his mind like a bell, day in and day out.

Having the knowledge that Hermione was pregnant with his child, altered the entire plan that he had to leave the wizarding world. Knowing that he was going to be a father, changed something in him. It had given him hope for something better... it gave him something to fight for again. He could admit that it had originally began as an assumption, when he overheard her and the Weasel talking about her pregnancy— but the moment that he bitten her and tasted her blood again... he knew. He knew without a doubt that the child that was growing inside of her was his. So it was with this thought that Draco went home and contacted a private investigator. And it was also this thought that made him pay for the man to follow Ronald Weasley and gather proof of his infidelity so that he could present it to Hermione.

He didn't know what he was going to accomplish by doing all of this, but he felt it was all for the best. So while his P.I followed around Ronald Weasley, he reached out to his family solicitor, Horatio Baberfield. He wanted to know about the legality of the situation and what he could do, should Hermione still choose to stay with her philandering husband even after being presented with proof of his infidelity. He wanted to make sure he would still be able to have access to his child. And as much as it pained him to say, he would be more than willing to take Hermione to court in order to make that happen, even if it got him in trouble once the nature of his childs conception was revealed.

But first he needed to make sure he would even be granted rights to the child. After all, she was married and it could be argued in court that the child was her husband's, and not his. Especially since she was so early on in her pregnancy. None of that mattered to him though. Because now that he knew that the child was definitely his, nothing, not even Hermione would stop him from seeing his child. He didn't want to fight her, not after the way he put her in this condition in the first place, but there was no way in hell that he was going to leave, now that he knew about his child.

Draco waited in the library for Horatio to arrive, and as he waited, he continued to think about Hermione and how she reacted to him when he revealed what her husband had been getting up to. From her reaction, he could tell that she would probably fight him for custody of their child, especially if she thought it was her husband's. There was no way that she would listen to him, if he came right out and told her that he knew, even if that was precisely what he wanted to do. She would more than likely call him a psychopath and file a restraining order against him.

Before he could continue on with his morbid thoughts, Dotty knocked on the library door and announced the arrival of Horatio. Draco stood quickly and made his way to the library door to greet the man that had been representing his family in court for the past thirty years.

"Hello Horatio, I hope you don't mind that I called you here on such short notice," Draco said, before shaking the man's hand and guiding him further into the library.

"Of course not. It's always a pleasure, working for the Malfoy family." The older man responded politely. "But I am curious as to why you called me here today Mr. Malfoy."

"Here, have a seat," Draco said while gesturing to the couch, once they reached it.

The older man sat down before speaking again, "If this is about Astoria, you needn't be worried. I've moved the allotted amount into her Gringotts vault, so she should be off your back about the money by now."

Draco waved his hand dismissively and remained standing before speaking, "No. this has absolutely nothing to do with Astoria. But it does have _everything_ to do with _me_." He sighed as he began to pace and continued, "I need your legal advice on a _touchy_ matter."

"Define touchy," Mr. Baberfield said before setting Draco with a serious face.

"Well, let's speak hypothetically, shall we?" Draco asked before his solicitor nodded and motioned for him to continue, "Well _hypothetically_ , if a werewolf happened to lose control and... well... uh... _take advantage_ of someone—"

"Wait. ' _Take advantage of,'_ what is that supposed to mean Mr. Malfoy? Have you raped someone?" He demanded, staring at the blond man in shock.

"It's not like I meant to do it Horatio! It just.. just.. I don't know! It was like one moment I was fine and the next I was... Hey! Wait! We're supposed to be speaking hypothetically!"

"It stopped being hypothetical, when you mentioned 'taking advantage' of somebody." He snarled, "What the hell did you do? You need to tell me everything!"

Draco sighed and carded his hand through his hair for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. Bracing himself for the backlash, he looked up and began to explain things to his solicitor. "Okay, so there was this situation that occurred back in October—"

"Oh Merlin, you mean to tell me that what the papers said, was accurate?"

"Will you let me finish?!" Draco snapped, "you told me you wanted to hear the whole story, so sit back, and shut the fuck up!" Mr. Baberfield was so shocked by the outburst, that he didn't utter another word, allowing Draco to explain what he wanted to share with him without any more interruptions.

"You have nothing to worry about Mr. Malfoy." Mr. Baberfield said before chuckling, once Draco had finished telling him everything he was willing to share at the moment.

"I'm glad you find this entire situation to be so funny." Draco muttered angrily as he continued to pace.

"Oh Mr. Malfoy, I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing at myself." Mr. Baberfield said while still chuckling.

"And pray tell, why exactly would you be laughing at yourself?" Draco asked in irritation.

"Because I honestly thought you had raped someone."

"Haven't I, though?"

"No." Mr. Baberfield said in a clipped voice, "If you had, I wouldn't still be here. I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but I have three daughters and there's no way in hell that I would ever support or defend a rapist in court."

"What about any of the stuff that I just told you, makes you believe that it wasn't rape? She said no, and I still continued. That's rape."

"No, it isn't. You yourself just said you weren't in control of your actions. And you _bit_ her."

"So what of it?"

"Mr. Malfoy, you're a werewolf for Merlin's sake, the bite _and_ the lack of control makes all the difference here... just trust me when I say that it wasn't rape."

"Well what the fuck would you call it then?"

"Oh, that's a rather simple answer. You mated her."

"I _mated_ her?" Draco asked incredulously. "What the fuck does that even mean?"

"What that means, Mr. Malfoy, is that Mrs. Granger-Weasley is your mate." Mr. Baberfield said while looking pointedly at Draco.

"What the? Wait. How is that even possible? She's _married_ for Salazar's sake"

"Being the mate of a magical creature carries a bit more weight than marriage. And to the ministry it's also considered to be far more sacred as well Mr. Malfoy. I've worked plenty of cases where a werewolf has claimed their mate and their mate is fighting the bond."

"Mates? Bonds? What the hell are you on about right now Horatio?"

"Tell me Mr. Malfoy, what exactly do you know about your kind?"

Draco flushed red with embarrassment before answering truthfully, "Not much.. I know that I'm a werewolf and that's pretty much the extent of my knowledge."

"You have no reason to feel ashamed, Mr. Malfoy. Most werewolves are indoctrinated into werewolf culture by their sires and seeing as how your sire is currently incarcerated, you haven't had the chance to be properly educated." Mr. Baberfield explained while looking compassionately at Draco.

"Do _you_ know anything about werewolf culture?" Mr Baberfield nodded once in response.

"Well, uh.. do you think you can tell me what it is that you know?" Draco asked bashfully before turning his head away from his solicitor.

"Well it's not much, but from what I've heard from some of my other clients is that when a werewolf is created, their mate has already been predetermined, the moment the curse has taken root in their core. It's supposedly the magic of the werewolf's curse that determines a werewolf's mate. Are you following me here?" Mr. Baberfield asked, wondering if Draco fully understood what he was telling him. When he didn't respond, the older wizard continued on. "Mr. Malfoy, the second after you were turned, the magic that helped bind the wolf to your physical form, also chose your mate."

"So what you're saying is that last year, on the day that I was bitten, this curse or whatever magic is involved in it, chose Hermione Granger-Weasley— who if you haven't noticed, happens to be a _married_ woman by the way— to be my mate?" Mr. Baberfield quickly nodded his head in response before saying,

"From what you've described to me, that's precisely what it seems to be. The scent, the voice in your head, the loss of control; those were all signs that you found your mate. And when you bit her, you marked her."

" _Marked_ her?"

"Yes. Umm how do I describe this... when you bit her, it was a show of dominance and security on your behalf. It was a claim on her physical person, as well as a preparation tactic. I suppose the bite also serves as a deterrent for other males who might try to take her from you, but the true purpose of the bite is to inject some of your venom into your mate, making them able to procreate with you. For example, when a female werewolf has found her mate, her bite will change the composition of her mate's seminal fluids, thus giving her mate the ability to impregnate her. And vice versa with a male werewolf, except your venom changes the integrity of your mates womb, making her able to carry your children."

"Why go through all of that? Why can't werewolves procreate with one another? Because it seems kind of redundant to go through all of that, just to have children, when they could just have children with one another."

"Though I admit, that would be the less exhaustive method, if it weren't completely impossible."

"What? That doesn't make sense. If we're all the same species, then what's the point of going through all of this when we should be able to procreate with one another."

"I'm not saying that it's supposed to make sense. I'm just telling you what I know." Mr. Baberfield said calmly. "Now would you like for me to continue on with this point or did you have more questions for me."

"A bit of both, I guess.." Draco admitted, while readying himself to tell his solicitor about the main reason why he called him here this afternoon. "Could you explain the procreation bit some more? And then I have a few more questions after that."

"Alright... to answer your question from a moment ago, the _point_ of all of this, is to ensure that you don't always remain a savage for the rest of your life. I'm honestly not sure how any of this works, but apparently because the mate of a werewolf is the perfect fit for both the wolf and the man or woman, once they've been claimed, it will calm their inner beast."

"I don't understand."

"What don't you understand."

"There's plenty that I don't understand. But I'll try not to pester you with too many questions."

"Nonsense! Ask me what it is that you want to know and if I know the answer to the question, I'll be more than happy to answer it for you."

"I don't understand how having a mate helps 'calm the inner beast', how exactly do they do that?"

"Well I don't have the exact answer to that question Mr. Malfoy, but from what my clients _have_ told me, they've shared that when the full moon comes, they don't feel like the senseless beast they use to be. They told me they feel calmer, in a serene, peaceful sort of way."

Draco thought back to his transformation from last month and went over all that he could remember from said event, trying to decide if there was a difference between the last time and all the other transformations before it. And instantly he knew that what Horatio was telling him, was the truth. During his last transformation, all he had wanted to do was find Hermione and curl up into a ball by her feet until he went to sleep. This was a sharp contrast to how he usually behaved during transformations, because throughout all of his previous transformations, even with the wolfsbane in his system he'd still been dazed, angry, and confused; tearing at his flesh as if he could peel it off and become a man again.

As he continued to think about what Horatio had shared with him, something that he said caught his attention. _Clients_... and Draco began to wonder what type of cases he worked for other werewolves. They obviously had something to do with their mates, since that seemed to be what Horatio knew the most about. Draco prepared his mind for the next influx of information as he readied his next question.

"Horatio, you mentioned that you got this information from former clients," Draco paused to wait for his answer. When the other wizard nodded, Draco continued, "You also said something about your clients needing you to help them when their mate tried to fight the bond. Does that mean that I have some type of legal rights here?"

"Actually, yes. If you want Mrs. Granger-Weasley bad enough and she continues to fight the bond, you would be well within your legal rights, to go down to the ministry and present your case to the Wizengamot."

"Would that actually work? Even after what I did to her?"

"Mr. Malfoy, I'm absolutely certain it will work. They will have to bend in your favour, because the longer she denies you, the more rowdy your wolf will become. And the Wizengamot won't want to put the safety of the public at risk by denying you. Besides, there is a law for this as well, didn't you know that?"

"No, not really. I wasn't lying to you when I said I didn't know much about werewolves or werewolf culture. I didn't even know there was a law for this."

"Yes, it's called the Bonded Mates Law, it's a law that was erected specifically for werewolves and veelas."

"And what is this law all about, exactly?"

"Well, it's a law that ensures that if a magical creature such as the werewolf or veela has found their mate, then they will have them."

"But _why_ is that? I'm pretty sure nothing good can come of a relationship that's put together by force. If someone's mate doesn't want to be claimed, then is it really even right for the Wizengamot to force their hand on the matter?"

"I've done a few follow up interviews with a few of the werewolves that I've represented and all of their mates are immensely happy. My opinion on why mates end up fighting the bond, is because their scared. I mean, think about it, one day you're living your life and you're perfectly content and then the next, you're linked to this magical creature that has a reputation for aggression and violence. If I were them, I'd be frightened too. But ultimately once the couple has been together for about a month, things will be different, and by the time the next transformation comes for the werewolf, the couple will have already been bonded enough for their mate to no longer be scared."

"Why do we need to even go through all of this? It still doesn't make sense. Why is it so important?"

"Because Mr. Malfoy, besides their presence acting as a calming agent for the werewolf, finding your mate is the only way you'll ever be able to have children."

"A-are you serious?" Draco stammered.

"As serious as an Avada Kedavra, Mr. Malfoy. Your mate is the key to you being able to have children. It physically won't work with anyone else. But don't worry, the same can be said for your mate."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that your mate will never be able to have children without you either. But only if they haven't conceived before you were turned, and even then, she would've had to have carried the child to term in order for her to be unaffected. But seeing as how Mrs. Granger-Weasley hasn't had any children yet, my assumption is that she won't ever be able to have children unless they're yours. And seeing as how she is a solicitor, then I'm pretty sure she already knows all of this as well."

Draco deadpanned before speaking. "Wait. So you mean to tell me that she knows what's going on right now?"

"I won't presume to know what Mrs. Granger-Weasley knows, but she is a solicitor, so therefore it's only right to assume that she is at least decently familiar with this law. If I'm not mistaken, the moment that you bit her, I'm pretty sure she knew what was happening."

"Are you sure?" Draco asked with a mixture of anger and sadness filling his heart.

"Yes, I'm positive. I think she's even worked a few of these cases herself, if I'm not mistaken." Mr. Baberfield said thoughtfully.

"And if she were to have gotten pregnant from said mating, would she have known that the child was mine?"

Mr. Baberfield locked eyes with Draco before speaking again, "Is she really pregnant Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco fiddled nervously with the hem of his dress robes before responding, "Yes, don't ask me how I know, just know that I do." He muttered, not wanting to admit that he'd been stalking her and that was how he had found out.

"I see," Mr. Baberfield said while keeping his eyes on Draco.

"So you see, this is the heart of the reason why I really asked you here today. I would like to know whether or not I will have legal rights to my child."

"Mr. Malfoy, you have even more rights to the child then she does."

"What? How is that? I thought the courts always sided with the mums."

"They typically do. But in situations like this, it's the other way around."

"Why is that?" Draco asked in curiosity.

"Well... umm.. to put this as simply as possible, you would have more rights to the child because the child will also be a werewolf. And as a human, she would never be able to teach the child how to be what they are."

"So what you're telling me, is that my son or daughter, is going to be a werewolf no matter what?" Draco asked in devastation.

"I'm sorry Mr. Malfoy, but yes. Even now, while he or she is in utero, it'll have the Lycan gene. And the Lycan gene is a dominant gene, and it'll dominate over all the others."

"Bloody hell." Draco mumbled absentmindedly. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that his child, his precious baby, had already been cursed before he or she could even begin their life. The thought of it not even having a choice in the matter, depressed him immensely. He knew in that moment that he would do whatever it took to have his child, especially after hearing that he would have even more rights to it than Hermione.

He was completely aware of the fact that he didn't know the first thing about being a werewolf. And in his current state, he could hardly offer his child a stable home. But regardless of all of this, he still hoped that he would be able to help his child cope with their condition somehow. Hell, who knew, maybe his child could help him cope with their condition as well.

He felt a twinge of pain in his chest at the thought that his actions would hurt Hermione. But he couldn't get over the fact that she _knew_ that the child was his and she was still planning on passing it off as her husband's. It enraged him like nothing else! He didn't know whether to cry or to storm over to her house and demand that she admit the truth. Draco couldn't help the feeling of betrayal he felt stirring deep in the pit of his stomach. Ever since he was sixteen years old, and had defected to the Order, he'd always known Hermione to be someone who you could always depend on to do the right thing. Surely being honest about who the father of her child was, was the _right thing_ to do.

"What are you going to do Mr. Malfoy?" Mr. Baberfield asked him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"I think I'm going to draw up papers, requesting custody of my child." Draco said, his stomach twisting with every word. It was like he could feel physical pain at just the thought of hurting her.

"Are you certain you want to do that?" Mr. Baberfield asked in mild disbelief.

"Yes," Draco said through gritted teeth, "She was planning on passing my child off as her husband's—" he threw a hand up to stop the older man from cutting him off when he saw his mouth open. "No. Don't ask me how I know that either. Just know that I know... she... she doesn't give a damn about me. So why should I give a damn about her?" He continued, hoping that the pain he felt, couldn't be heard in his voice as he spoke.

"Only if you're sure Mr. Malfoy," Mr. Baberfield said as he began to stand.

"Yes, go draw up the papers and have an extra copy drawn up and delivered to Mrs. Granger-Weasley, after you've delivered the main copy to the Wizengamot." Draco said, biting his lips the whole time.

"As you wish Mr. Malfoy," Mr. Baberfield stated while extending his hand for a farewell handshake. "If that's all, I'm going to head over to the office and begin the paperwork."

"Yes, that'll be all." Draco said while shaking the older man's hand.

He watched as the older man walked to the door and exited his library. His heart felt like it was in a vice grip, and his lungs felt like they were on fire. Draco really didn't want to hurt her, but what else was there to do? She _knew_ that the child was his and she still planned on letting her husband believe that the child was his! He hoped to feel vindicated by his actions when he told his solicitor to file those papers, but he felt the opposite. He felt physically ill by what he was doing. But she _needed_ to know that he wasn't just going to stand by and let her keep his child from him.

He had to admit that he did feel somewhat pleased by the knowledge that the moment that she saw those papers she would know that he knew. And once she knew that, the ball would officially be back in her court. And he was curious to see what she would do once she was aware that her little secret was no longer a secret anymore.

* * *

 **AN: Dun dun dun. How do you guys think Hermione will react when she receives Draco's request for custody? I love reviews, so don't be afraid to use em'.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Sorry for the delay guys, school just started so I'm juggling college, working and writing ️. But to make up for it, here's the longest chapter I've put up in this story.**

* * *

 _ **Ministry of Magic - 22 December 2006 8:00am**_

The day started off for her much the same way it had been for the past few days: zero energy, long-standing nausea, the inability to eat, and to top it all off, she was completely knackered and stressed the fuck out. It had been a full week since the last time she had seen Draco. A full week since she'd felt the warmth of his skin against her... And as much as she tried to fight it, she couldn't deny the secret hope that she held onto, that it wouldn't be the last time she saw him. She'd even taken to watching her yard every night, in hopes of seeing him again. But with each passing day, it became more and more obvious that he wasn't going to come see her again. Hermione knew she should've felt pleased that he'd finally stopped his pursuit of her. But for some god forsaken reason, she couldn't. She could even admit that after the last time he came to see her, it stoked a fire within her that she didn't even know that she had. And it made her feel even more drawn to him in a completely indescribable way. And right now, she was filled with insurmountable emotions of both melancholy and dejection due to his continued absence from her life. But in the time apart Hermione had also been thinking extremely hard about what he'd told her the previous week.

 _"Your_ husband _, is off with his mistress right now."_

And the one thought that kept hammering away in her brain was, is he telling the truth? Or was this just some kind of sick ploy he came up with to try and convince her to leave her husband to go be with him? She couldn't blame him if he had chosen to behave in such an underhanded sneaky way, after all, he was a Slytherin and she knew that he had a penchant for getting his way. And if he honestly believed that telling her these lies would ensure that he got what he wanted, she wouldn't put it past him to be desperate enough to give it a go. But she couldn't stop thinking that he could somehow be telling the truth. And in the off chance that he _was_ telling the truth, she couldn't figure out for the life of her, why her husband would stray.

She began to think back on their relationship over the years, wondering when the cheating might've begun. Surely there must've been some kind of signs that she would have noticed over the years, that would've let her know he had been being unfaithful, right? She began to think back on the early days of their relationship, and how happy they were together that first summer after the final battle. Hermione smiled at those memories, though she could admit that there had been some distance that arose when she decided to return to Hogwarts for her final year and he had decided to go into Auror training with Harry.

She felt her heart clench at the thought of Harry, but tried to reign in her emotions so she could continue to focus on what she was doing. Once she got her mind back into a proper state, she dove straight back into her memories. They'd written to each other constantly and she remembered how excited he had been to be in the Auror training program. She could vividly recall the day when she received an owl from Ron towards the end of the school year, telling her that he had been released from the Auror training program. His writing was sloppier than usual and she could tell that he was more than likely pissed when he'd written it. In his missive he'd also told her that the only reason why they'd done it was because they were afraid that he would outshine the 'Chosen One'. But upon further inspection by Hermione, she found out that the real reason why he had been released from the program was because he had failed a good portion of their written assessments as well as some of their field tests as well.

He'd been beyond angry that while he was being dismissed from training, Harry had not only been allowed to stay but he'd also been able to graduate from the program as well. And even years later Hermione could still vividly recall each time Ron had sworn that the only reason Harry hadn't been removed from the training program as well, was because he was the 'Chosen One' and not because he had actually applied himself and studied for his exams. She had to listen to it all the way up until the day Harry died. And even though Harry had bore the brunt of Ron's bitterness and anger, he still remained confident that eventually Ron would tire of his jealousy and come back around to being friends. That was a hope that never came to fruition though, because once Ronald was finally able to procure a job he immediately moved out of the Burrow and became even more distant and nasty towards Harry. But Hermione had chalked it up to his resentment at not being able to be in the career of his choosing, and that he'd been forced to get a job in the ministry that he hated. After being dismissed from Auror training, the only job he'd been able to get without his NEWTs was a position as an undersecretary for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department in the Ministry— a job she knew he'd gotten through his father, Arthur. And if that hadn't been enough, Ron became even more disdainful once it had been revealed that Draco Malfoy had not only _passed_ Auror training but that he'd also gotten paired with Harry as partners— something that made him hate both Harry and Draco even more.

Back then, she was almost completely certain that due to his attitude, their friendship as a trio would've been over. And had it not been for Harry's relationship with Ginny, it definitely would've been. If it were up to Ron, he would've cut Harry out of his life completely the moment he was booted from Auror training, but because he and Ginny still lived at home with Molly, he was forced to remain in constant proximity to Harry. But through all the bitterness and anger at Harry, she honestly couldn't recall him behaving nastily towards her. But to be honest she couldn't really remember much else from that time in their lives because she had been away at school once more— this time for a mastery in magical law— as well as working part time at Flourish and Blotts.

It was during this time in school that Ron had asked her to marry him. And with all the stress she was under she had allowed Ron to convince her to get married sooner rather than later, with the condition that they wait until she was settled in her career to start a family. At the time, he'd been more than happy to make the bargain, she supposed that he'd only agreed because he figured he could talk her out of it eventually. And a year into their marriage, was when he had begun to do exactly that. And he continued to pester her for the next few years, up until the beginning of this year when she finally acquiesced to his desire to start trying.

Absentmindedly her hand began to travel to her stomach. She wondered what would've happened had she given in to his demands sooner rather than later. Certainly she wouldn't have been able to be put in the situation that she was currently in right now— ten weeks pregnant with a werewolf's werewolf baby. She cringed at the harshness of her thought. _I'm so sorry little one, please forgive me._ She inwardly apologised to her unborn child immediately after the barbarous thought. "Mummy didn't mean it, I promise. Mummy doesn't care that you're a werewolf sweet heart." She whispered to her bloated little stomach as she stroked over her slight bulge.

 _Focus Hermione!_ She chided herself. _You have to focus if you want to actually remember when all of this shit with your husband could've started._

As she continued to think back over the course of her marriage, she couldn't pinpoint any exact time that Ron had begun to act strangely, or as if he had something to hide. In fact, none of his behaviour indicated that he was being or had ever been unfaithful. His insistence on starting a family, was certainly not something a cheating man would do. Of that, she was certain. Yes. She thought with confidence. Malfoy was just lying in a last ditch effort to make her leave her husband. That had to be it! He came to her and seduced her into having sex with him and then he followed it up with that false allegation against her husband all in hopes of convincing her to leave Ron. There was no other reason for why he would make up such a malicious lie. She could've smacked herself for not seeing this sooner and allowing what he said to eat away at her all week.

Satisfied with what she deduced to be his reasoning for lying to her, she began to clear her mind of it's previous thoughts and attempted to focus on the paper work before her. Before she could fully immerse herself in her work, there came a knock from her office door.

"Come in," She said as she peaked up from the papers littering her desk.

Her secretary poked her head through the door and began to speak. "Mrs. Weasley, there's a Horatio Baberfield here to see you."

"Baberfield?" She asked in confusion, because she was completely certain that she didn't have any meetings scheduled for today. Hermione glanced down to check her daily planner to double check, but couldn't find his name pencilled in anywhere. She lifted her head to look at the door before she asked her secretary, "Well did he tell you whether or not he had an appointment?"

Her secretary looked nervous at this before answering honestly, "Umm. Well he says he's here to serve you for court." and Hermione immediately felt her stomach clench in trepidation at her words.

 _He's here to serve me? No! It can't be! Surely Malfoy doesn't know the truth yet!_

"L-let," she paused to steel herself. "Let him in Amy." She said in a slightly shaky voice.

Her secretary's head disappeared and reappeared moments later with a tall older man in tow. After letting him inside, she quickly excused herself and shut the door behind herself. The moment after she closed the door, the man turned around and cast a silencing charm on the thick oak surface. He turned back around and looked at her sullenly before giving her a brief halfhearted smile.

"Hello Mrs. Weasley. My name is Horatio Baberfield," he said while extending his hand for Hermione to shake. Hermione timidly shook his hand before quickly taking hers back and clasping it firmly in her opposite hand in an attempt to keep them from shaking.

"And what can I do for you today Mr. Baberfield?" She asked in a timorous voice.

Gesturing to the chair situated just before her desk, he asked the obviously frightened young woman, "Would you mind if I had a seat Mrs. Weasley?"

"Not at all Mr. Baberfield, please have a seat." She said in the same apprehensive tone.

Noticing her fear he decided to get right to it, there was no point in drawing it out. She obviously knew why he was here. Well maybe not the exact reason, but she had to know he was here on behalf of Draco Malfoy.

"I hope you don't mind that I silenced your office, do you Mrs. Weasley? I didn't want any eavesdroppers having access to yours and my client's personal affairs." When she said nothing, he continued. "I know that you know that I'm here on behalf of Draco Malfoy, so let's cut to the heart of the matter, shall we?" Without waiting for her to respond, he continued, "My client has been made aware of what's going on between the two of you and to be honest Mrs. Weasley, I'm quite disappointed in you.

"As I'm certain that you already know, I'm fully aware that you are a solicitor. And I mean, lets be honest here for a moment, who here in the Wizarding World doesn't know about the great Hermione Granger-Weasley being one of the best solicitors in our field? I'm certain that everyone with even an ounce of magical blood knows about the brains behind the Golden Trio, being such a highly successful solicitor, right?" He sneered, "Your notoriety as a famous war heroine definitely ensured that much. But you see Mrs. Weasley, you'll have to forgive me if I'm not half as forgiving as the many people that currently look up to you. And I will take the time right now to apologise before hand if at some point throughout this conversation, I come off as being slightly rude or vexed. Because you see Mrs. Weasley, for the life of me, I just can _not_ figure out why you're doing what you're doing." The older wizard said just before holding up a hand to silence her when she opened her mouth and tried to make a retort.

"No Mrs. Weasley, nothing you can say right now will change my opinion on that. You've had plenty of time to handle this situation accordingly, but you _haven't_. And that's simply deplorable... Please don't give me that face Mrs. Weasley. I know you know exactly what I'm talking about right now, I've seen your case record, and I _know_ that you've personally worked at least a dozen cases involving the Bonded Mates Law. So I know for a fact that you are and have been for a while now— completely aware that you are bonded to my client. I also know that you're fully aware that the child that you're currently carrying, is the product of my client as well. And instead of you being upfront with the young man, who you can clearly see doesn't know or understand anything about who and what he is. You decide to take advantage of his ignorance and allow him to wallow around in self loathing. Which is completely unacceptable.

"You see Mrs. Weasley, I've known Draco since he was a boy. I've watched him go from a little pompous arse of a boy, to a fine respectable young man. You don't know how hard that was for him to do. To betray his friends and family and everything he was raised to believe, all for the greater good. And what upsets me the most is the fact that you let him go around believing that he assaulted and raped you. And you knew full well that as his mate, he would've been unable to stop the compulsion he felt to claim you. And not only that, but you were even willing to try and pass his child off as your husband's. Here's a little known fact for you Mrs. Weasley, even if my client hadn't found out about his child, there still would've been no way for you to hide him from his father. That pale blond hair and those steel grey eyes you see on Draco, are dominant genes. Every Malfoy that has ever been born into their family, had those same features, regardless of what their other parent looks like. So honestly don't understand how you could've ever believed you would be able to get away with it. But I digress, the fact remains that Mr. Malfoy has now been informed and as such, he has requested me to draw up these papers and present them to you. Obviously this is a copy of the original document, that of which, I've already submitted to the Wizengamot." He said while sliding a thick yellow envelope across the desk and began to stand.

Hermione was so taken aback by his harsh chastisement that she didn't get the chance to say anything before he ended the silencing charm and glided over to the door.

"Now that that's done, I do still hope you'll have a wonderful afternoon," he said in a falsely sweet tone before he turned and exited the room in a flourish.

 _This is it, isn't it._ She thought worriedly as she tentatively reached for the envelope. _He's gone and filed the petition in order to have me._

She picked up the envelope and with shaky hands, she opened it. Upon opening it, she flipped it over and emptied it of its contents. Hermione took a few breaths to steady herself for what she assumed to be Ministry official papers, formally requesting her to submit to the bond under the BML. But instead of finding his court officiated, formal request to have her as his mate, she was surprised to find something else entirely, laid out on the desk just before her. She quickly skimmed over the parchment and felt her stomach plummet into her arse.

 _No! This couldn't possibly be happening!_ She thought angrily to herself! _This is a thousand times worse than him trying to petition for me! That bastard! I would've preferred for him to petition for me instead of petitioning for_ full _custody of my child!_

Hermione couldn't help the hot angry tears that began to pour from her eyes as she hugged her arms around herself. _How could he do this to me!_ She thought angrily to herself. _How could he try and take my baby away from me!_ Before Hermione could truly break down she began to hear a light tapping at the window of her office. "What could it possibly be now," she muttered to herself as she glanced lugubriously towards the window where an elegant black eagle owl was hovering just on the other side.

When she didn't recognise the owl, she was almost tempted to let it stay on the other side of the glass until it grew tired enough to fly away. But with the black bile feeling of despondency creeping over her, she became extraordinarily eager to push all of those thoughts and feelings away. Trying to push her mind in a more hopeful direction, she began to wonder whose owl it could potentially be. _Maybe this owl is bringing me a letter or something else that could somehow brighten my spirits_ , she thought optimistically as she made to get up. On shaky legs, she stood and crossed the room to go over to the window. Upon opening it, the owl immediately extended his leg. Completely refusing to fully enter her office. And after she took the shrunken Manila envelope, it turned and flew away without even waiting for a treat. Hermione thought it was curious that the owl seemed to be so efficient and business-like, but shrugged it off as she closed the window and turned to go back to her desk.

After sitting herself down she took out her wand and restored the envelope to its original size. She inspected the envelope before grabbing her letter opener and slicing it open. Hermione flipped this envelope over as well, and emptied it of its contents much like she did with the envelope given to her by Malfoy's solicitor. Immediately she could tell that the majority of its contents were wizarding photographs, all with the exception of a single sheet of parchment, as she glanced over the movement going on in each of the squares. Curiosity struck her as she began to lightly thumb through them. And at first glance as she looked over each of the photographs, she found that there were time stamps in the corner of each one. Much like the ones you would find in the footage from Muggle surveillance cameras.

She immediately felt off kilter at this knowledge. Because as far as she knew, the only wizards that had been granted access to those kinds of cameras were the Aurors and a couple of wizarding private investigation firms. Tearing her eyes away from the photos now littering her desk, she reached for the sheet of parchment that came out of the envelope with them. As her eyes scanned over the parchment, she almost had the mind to tear it up after she recognized the elegant scrawl adorning it. She didn't have to see who signed it, to know that the letter came from Malfoy.

 _To whom this will undoubtly concern,_

 _I know you accused me of being a liar and not being honest with you about what I know about your husband. So I decided to back up my claims with irrefutable proof that I was telling the truth. As I'm certain you know, all photos taken with these surveillance cameras cannot be tampered with in any way. I believe Harry explained to me that there's something similar in the Muggle world, so I'm certain you know what I mean._

 _I truly hope that this reaches you before my solicitor does. Because I'm almost certain that you'll tear this up without ever giving it a second glance if he's already seen you before this arrives, simply because of the fact that I'm requesting custody of my child. But you have to understand this Hermione, I never wanted to do this... I never wanted to hurt you. I won't even tell you how much it hurt me to find out that you knew about what was going on between us, and yet you still refused to tell me. I keep trying to understand why you didn't tell me, but I can't._

 _I can't see any reason for why you couldn't just tell me the truth. I understand you don't want me to claim you and take you away from your husband, so I won't. But I simply can not allow you to try and pass my child off as his. There's no way in hell that I could ever allow that. Rest assured though, I won't be doing anything to try and force you to leave your husband, but I will apologize in advance right now. Because Hermione, I'm going to do whatever it takes to make sure I get custody of my son or daughter._

 _Now as for the contents of this envelope, I'll be honest and tell you that I was torn on my decision of whether or not I was going to send them to you. But after some long deliberation on my part, I came to the conclusion that regardless of the issues that are currently going on between us, you still deserve to know the truth. And now you shall have that truth. As I said before, what you will find here in this envelope, has not been tampered with in any way, shape, form or fashion._

 _-D. Malfoy_

She balled the parchment up tight in her fist, the moment that she finished reading what was written. How dare that slimy bastard try to act like he actually _wanted_ to help her, _after_ he'd already submitted a petition to take her child away from her. As if she were nothing more than a broodmare, whose sole purpose was to sit at home and provide him with a village of children. She was tempted to burn everything that tumbled out of that envelope with that sheet of parchment, but she knew that in her current emotional state, she would more than likely lose control of any type of fire she could attempt to produce with her wand. She knew elemental magic, like conjuring up water, fire, or even air, required the utmost focus and control— and she wasn't going to put herself in harms way just because her child's father wanted to behave underhandedly. She picked up the photographs as she contemplated what she was going to do with them. She considered tossing them in the rubbish, but one nosy Ministry official, and everyone would be able to find out her relationship's dirty laundry.

 _That's if there is even dirty laundry to be revealed in the first place._

Admittedly, when she initially thought back on Draco's revelation of Ron being an adulterer, she chalked it up to him doing it as a ploy to get her to leave her husband. She believed without a doubt that everything he said that night had to be a lie. But as she sat there holding what Draco claimed to be the irrefutable "proof" of his claims, she couldn't help but to feel a knot forming in the pit of her stomach. And it was as if she no longer had control over her actions. She felt as if she were being compelled to look through the photos, as she collected them all to slide them back into the envelope that they had come out of. The moment her eyes finally rested on the first image of the pile, she felt as if she was going to be ill.

In that very first photo, staring back at her, was the image of her red-headed husband, holding hands with her former housemate and roommate, Lavender Brown. What the bloody hell is he doing with her? She thought angrily, as she saw him swinging their linked hands back and forth while they walked. And every now and again, she would see her husband turn around and look behind him. Almost as if he didn't want anyone to see him or something. And before she could stop herself, she found herself looking at the next picture. This image was far more intimate than the first one, in many ways. She watched the photo with blurred vision as she looked at her husband embracing Lavender, while she held the hand of a small red headed child. A little girl.

Hermione knew the moment she laid eyes on the girl, that she was their daughter. Aside from her flaming red hair, she could clearly see that child was a perfect mixture of both her husband and her former housemate. The girl had Lavender's face shape and nose, but Ron's eyes and shape of mouth. The little girl was grinning widely as she stared up into the faces of her parents. Hermione continued to watch as her husband broke the hug with Lavender. She watched as his hand lightly brushed over her stomach as he went to bend down and kiss his daughter on her forehead. And just like that, he was turning and walking away from the both of them. She watched as Lavender's face went from happy to forlorn as she stared after her husband's retreating form, long after he'd already left the square of the photo. Hermione couldn't help herself, as she stopped looking at _that_ photo, in order to thumb through the rest. She found that all of them varied in dates, but that they were all dated as having been taken over the course of this past week.

She felt like her heart was crumbling in her chest as she looked at the _irrefutable proof_ that her husband had been having an affair. And not only that, but that he'd also had a child with his mistress. She began to slip the photos back into the envelope they'd come out of, completely determined to peruse them _after_ she got home from work. She refused to look at the rest of them right now. She really didn't want to break down, especially while outside of the comfort of her home. She'd barely gotten the photos back into their envelope before she heard a light tap at the door.

Aren't I just Misses popularity today? She thought sardonically just before she cracked her mouth open to call out for the door.

She'd barely even gotten two words out of her mouth when the door cracked open partially and she saw the face of her husband peak inside. Her _lying, philandering, filthy, cheating dog of a husband_ she seethed inwardly as she took in his face. Hermione tried to hold back the disgusted grimace that was threatening to mar her features as she took in the sight of his freckled face, but by the confused expression she saw him wearing, she assumed she must've been doing a rather poor job of it.

He opened the door the rest of the way and looked her over appraisingly before speaking, "You alright Mione?"

Hermione gritted her teeth, and she could feel her sadness bubbling over into rage. She wanted to jump up and claw his face off with her bare hands. She wanted to yell and scream, and demand he tell her why he had been doing this with Lavender for three or four years, by the looks of their daughter. And here he was waltzing into her office as if he hadn't done anything wrong. It made her thoughts flash back to what she had been thinking about previously before Malfoy's solicitor came to see her. How she had never been able to pinpoint when it all could've started and how convinced she was that he would never do that. That he could never do that. It made her wonder why he had been so eager to try and knock her up, if he'd already managed to have a child with Lavender.

"—Mione?" She was startled out of her thoughts by the sound of his voice.

"Huh?"

"I was asking if you were okay?"

"Oh— umm. Yeah, I'm fine." She mumbled out quickly.

"That's good," he said with a beaming smile before he started talking again. "I just wanted to swing by and tell you that I'm going to be running late today. My boss really needs me to sort all his paperwork for his presentation tomorrow, he has a really big meeting and it could take me a while. So don't wait up for me love."

As soon as she heard those words her brain began pulling up memories from over the course of this past week. How he'd been using his boss' upcoming presentation as a reason as to why he wouldn't be home on time. And here she was with proof of all of those "late night hours" at the office being nothing more than fictitious hogwash, hiding within the confines of the envelope sitting perched up on her desk.

Just as he began to turn and walk towards the door, she found herself speaking. "Ronald, you won't be staying late at the office tonight. You're coming home—"

He spun around to face her and spoke as if he were a petulant child. "But Mione I _need_ to, I literally just told you—"

"I don't give a damn what you just said. You're bringing your arse home tonight and if Mr. Castlings doesn't like it, then I'll go and have a word with him about the fact that you have a duty to your wife and _unborn child_." She knew she was milking it. Especially throwing in the bit about the baby, but she wanted to get him in their house so she could finally get down to the bottom of this situation, _in private_ because she was certain it was bound to get ugly.

She could see his face contorting in annoyance, but she didn't care one bit. He clenched and unclenched his jaw a few times before opening his mouth to speak once more, "I don't know who you think you're talking to, but I'm not one of your little paralegals. I'm your husband and I deserve respect! And I told you that I'm staying late at work tonight, so tough luck. You don't get to boss me around when it comes down to my job and what I do for a living!"

Hermione was seething at his harsh rebuke of her, and before she could stop herself she opened up the envelope filled with photos and slipped out the one of him hugging Lavender and kissing their daughter while he stroked Lavender's stomach. She placed the photo on the desk and slid it over to him.

"Didn't know that this is what your boss meant when you said that he wanted you to sort his paperwork for him."

Ron's face paled considerably before he looked back up to meet her eyes. But the moment their eyes met, his expression went from one of shock and horror to one of smugness and satisfaction. She wanted to know why he was behaving so oddly. Why would he make that face, as if he hadn't minded being caught. It made her think something might've been wrong with him. And she believed her thoughts to be confirmed the moment he began to laugh hysterically. Hermione would be a liar if she said that his behaviour wasn't frightening in a way. She'd never known any man that would feel happy at being discovered with having an affair. Ron laughed as if she had told him the funniest joke in the world.

"Alright," he said as he began to calm down and sit in the chair in front of his desk. "So you finally know about Lavender and Winnifred."

She looked at him incredulously, mouth agape before finally speaking, "Y-you anticipated me discovering your affair and secret love child?" She scoffed.

He shrugged before speaking again, "I knew it would happen eventually. I mean come on Mione, I know you think I'm some kind of blithering idiot, but even I have enough sense to know that I couldn't have kept this a secret forever. But none of that matters now."

"What do you mean none of that matters?"

"Well, it's not like you can leave me or anything now that you know."

At this she scoffed, he couldn't possibly think that she would stay with him after finding out about his affair and secret love child.

"What makes you think I won't leave you. Because I _can_ , and I'm quite certain that I _will_."

"Mione for the brightest witch of our age, you sure are acting pretty dumb right now. Aren't you a solicitor? Then you should know, that from the moment you conceived my child, that it made our marriage unbreakable. It's physically impossible for you to leave me now." He smiled menacingly before moving to stand once more, "And now that that's out of the way, I guess there's no longer a reason to lie. I'm going to be going over Lav's house tonight to spend some time with her and Winnifred. I'm pretty sure that with enough planning, I'll be able to split my time evenly between the two of you and our children. But since our child isn't born yet, I figured I'd spend plenty of time around Winnie and prepare her for her role as an older sibling. She's already excited about her mum having another baby, but once I tell her about you and the other baby, she's going to be ecstatic."

Now it was Hermione's turn to laugh. Did he honestly believe that she was going to sit back and let him treat her this way. The laugh that emitted from her was almost hysterical in nature due to the fact that she was laughing both at her husband _and_ at her current situation with Malfoy. Who would've actually thought that Draco Malfoy would be more trustworthy than her husband. She could see Ron looking at her quizzically as she continued to laugh.

"Mind sharing the joke?" He asked her in irritation.

"Why don't you sit back down Ronald. It seems to me that we have loads to discuss."

He scoffed, "There's nothing to discuss. I'm going to be keeping the both of you, point blank period. I'm not leaving Lavender and our two children and I'm not leaving you and our child. And you _can't_ leave me now that you're pregnant. So it's pretty much a win win for everyone involved, especially the children."

"And what about this situation is going to be a win for me? What about any of this is going to be a win for me. You sound like such a selfish bastard, Ronald. ' _I'm keeping the both of you_ '," she said mimicking his voice before continuing, "Well since your Mr. Confidence, why don't you tell me when all of this shit got started and why the hell you felt the need to impregnate me, if you had already begun a family with Lavender?"

"Well, since you're so curious, I suppose I could answer a few of your questions." He said smugly as he turned to sit back down in the chair in front of her desk. "What would you like to know Hermione?"

As she took in Ron's demeanor, she saw how smug he felt about what he thought he'd managed to accomplish. His confidence was completely overt, and she could feel it coming off of him in waves. It honestly surprised her to see him like this, so confident and composed, almost as if he felt superior to her right now in this moment. She was curious to know when he'd became this way. His confidence wasn't something that one would get in the spur of the moment. It was something that she knew he had been developing within him over the course of their marriage. She wanted to know where it had come from. Was his confidence a result of him feeling like she had fallen for his plan? In the back of her mind, she considered that that must be where his newfound conviction was coming from. And in the back of her mind, she thought about how grateful she felt for her bond with Draco. Had Ron been able to convince her to begin trying for a family before Draco had been turned, she _would've_ been subjected to whatever his plan was.

She cringed at that thought before she began to shake her head as if to clear it from it's previous thoughts. This wasn't the time to think about Ron's newfound confidence. It was time for her to help him dig his own grave. If he was going to answer her questions, then she was going to make sure she had all of his information documented. Because she knew that sometimes under the BML that the spouse of a mate to a magical creature could request compensation in exchange for their emotional distress, and once it was revealed that she was bonded to Draco, she didn't want Ronald getting one knut, sickle, or galleon from either Malfoy or herself. She reached into her desk as nonchalantly as possible and turned her voice recorder on. It was moments like this, that made her happy to be a solicitor, and to have such an extensive knowledge of the law. And because of all of her legal knowledge, she knew that this recording would be admissible in a court of law regardless of the fact that he had no knowledge of its existence. In the muggle world, she knew that doing this wouldn't be legal, but luckily the Wizarding World was completely different. Once she saw the blinking red light of her recorder, signalling that it was on and recording, she decided to begin asking questions.

"Well, for starters, when did this thing with Lavender begin?"

"Do you want the long or short version of this story?" he asked snidely.

"Whichever version you're willing to share Ronald." she said with a shrug.

"So long version then." he said with a smirk, "Well, it started a little while after you went to go get your mastery in Wizarding Law—"

"Before or after you asked me to marry you?"

"Before. She came to me at a time when I needed comfort."

"You mean, back when you were hating Harry unnecessarily?"

"Do you want me to tell you or not?" he snapped.

"Go on Ronald. I won't interrupt again."

"Well, we hooked up once while you were away. And she really helped me get through those rough days Hermione. Well, of course once we started, I honestly couldn't stop."

"Okay, I lied. I have to interrupt you again." he rolled his eyes at her interruption, but said nothing. "Why ask me to marry you then, if you were hooking up with Lavender? Where was the sense in that?"

"Have you ever felt like people thought you weren't good enough for certain things or even people?" he asked her before scoffing at his own question. "What am I saying, of course you haven't! You grew up an only child. You were the apple of your parent's eye. Misses Perfect that always got brilliant marks in school and could never do anything wrong. You have no idea what it was like being me. You have no idea what its like to be constantly overlooked because no one thinks you're as good as everyone else. You're not overlooked for not being as successful as Bill, or as adventurous as Charlie, or as smart as Percy, or as funny as the twins. And don't even get me started on Ginny. I was always the throw away kid. The one that never mattered. But the day I announced my relationship with you to my family, you should've seen all of their faces. It was like they finally saw something in me, all because _you_ saw enough of something in me to be with me. And I'm selfish enough to admit I didn't want to give that up all because I enjoyed shagging Lavender on the side. We continued to shag even after I'd proposed and married you. I hadn't even considered the possibility of her falling pregnant, until she actually did. At that point, it was far too late to stop what we were doing. And nine months later, Winnifred was born." he said with a shrug.

"Why did you continue to hook up with Lavender even _after_ we got married? It's not like we _weren't_ having sex after that."

"Are you sure you want me to answer that?" he asked seriously.

She shrugged, "Go on. This is _your_ confessional after all."

"Well if you insist," he said with a questioning glance before continuing. "I only continued carrying on with Lav because she knew what I liked in bed. Hermione, you were a virgin when we first got married and when we had sex for the first time, it was far too stiff and boring for me. Now this isn't to say that I didn't enjoy having sex with you. I mean I would have to be an idiot to not enjoy having sex with a woman that has only had me as her lover."

"So you continued screwing Lavender because she was more _experienced_ than me?" She scoffed at him.

"Precisely. She had the experience you were lacking. But don't fret over that. I don't want to speak negatively about Lav because she's the mother of my child, but we both know that Lav got around when we were at Hogwarts. And I don't want you to take all of this the wrong way. It's just sex with her was great because she knew what I wanted as well as what I liked. But I also enjoyed having sex with you because I know that I'm the only man that has ever been inside of you."

She knew the moment that those words fell from his mouth how accurate they would've been had she _not_ been Draco's mate. Because even if she hadn't been Draco's mate, her husband would've still been engaging in this torrid affair with Lavender. Hell, he'd already been heavily involved in this affair long before Draco had even been turned. And suddenly she found herself having a newfound feeling of gratefulness for her bond with the young werewolf, as well as a overwhelming feeling of relief because she hadn't agreed to Ron's desire to start a family back when he had originally begun pestering her to start trying with him. She couldn't help but regret her earlier disparaging thoughts about both Draco and her unborn child, all because she didn't want to believe that Draco could be telling her the truth.

"I hope you know how much of a misogynistic wanker you sound like right now. And I'm not even going to pretend like I understand your motives for continuing on in your affair, because I don't. So lets move on to my next question."

"And what question would that be?"

"Why were you so insistent on getting me pregnant? You began pestering me a year into our marriage, for us to start trying for a baby, when you already agreed to wait until my career was well established."

"You want the truth?"

"Of course I want the bloody truth," she snapped at him. "I'm not asking you these questions for my fucking health Ronald."

"Fine," he muttered, "The truth it is then. Well at first it started as a ploy to get you away from work. Because here you were a couple of months out of school and you were already excelling in your field. So I suppose that in a way it all kind of started off as a pride thing. I mean, you're the brightest witch of our generation, and everyone thought I was the luckiest guy in the world to have you as my wife. And I was happy with that at first. Until I found out how much money you were making, and after I found that out, I figured that with a baby at home, you'd be too busy to go back to work and I'd get the added benefit of the whole of the wizarding world knowing that you bared a child for me. Come on Hermione, don't give me that face! You have to understand the shame I felt behind knowing that my wife makes more money than me at work. Stop for one second and try to look at this from my perspective, and I'm certain you'll understand how embarrassing it is for me to come into work everyday and have people look at me piteously because you make more than me. So yeah, at first, it was to get you away from work. But then once I discovered that Lavender was pregnant, it became less about getting you out of work, and more about ensuring you couldn't leave me."

"And why are you so dead set on 'keeping me', if I don't even satisfy you? It doesn't make sense. Your mistress' pregnancy should've been your way out. It should've been your chance for happiness." she honestly didn't understand his motive behind being so hard pressed for her to get pregnant.

"Because..." He paused and began to look uncomfortably at the ground.

As soon as he stopped speaking, everything he said earlier began to make much more sense. He hadn't married her because he was in love with her. He'd married her because it changed the way people looked at _him_. His public falling out with Harry had tarnished his reputation. So in a way their marriage was almost like a symbol of his status in the wizarding world, almost as if their marriage brought him back the favour he wouldn't have otherwise had, because he chose to distance himself from Harry. And because of her unwavering status as one of Harry's best friends and the brains behind his mission to kill Voldemort, his tie to her as her husband made him feel more confident. She had always wondered why Ron had waited until after Harry had passed away for him to publicly claim him as his best friend once more. Now she knew, it was because he had only been attempting to chase the fame that he once had as Harry's friend. With new thoughts spiraling around in her head, she could barely stop herself from asking him something that had been bothering her since his 'public mourning' of Harry last year. But she decided against it, and instead continued to focus on her current path of conversation.

"So let me see if I have this right. So you married me because you liked the way that _I_ made people see you. And you had begun and continued an illicit affair with another witch, simply because you felt like I dissatisfied you. And then you set out to get me pregnant, just so I wouldn't be able to leave you, correct?"

"Well that's pretty much the short version of it. But yeah, that's it," he said with a shrug.

"Good." she said with a small smirk before reaching into her drawer to turn off her recorder. Before turning back to her husband. "Well since we're doing confessions, I would like to share with you one of my own. Do you want to hear it?"

"Sure," he said with a shrug.

"Well, there's something I have to tell you about the baby,"

His face paled at the thought that something could be wrong with their baby.

"W-what's wrong with the baby?"

"Nothing's wrong with the baby. He's perfectly healthy the last time I checked."

"Well what the bloody hell is it then? What's going on with the baby?"

"Well, for starters... It's not yours..."

His face went from one of concern to one of vicious anger.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU MEAN THE BABY ISN'T MINE?!"

His face was turning puce with rage, and she couldn't help but to laugh at the audacity he had. How dare he behave so indignantly? As if he hadn't been cheating on her for _years_. She laughed so hard that her cheekbones hurt and after a while, her hysterical laughter began to wane off into soft chuckles before she finally stopped.

"Woo. That was a wonderful laugh, thank you very much for that."

"Wait, so you're joking? About the baby not being mine."

"No, I was completely serious. This baby really isn't yours. In fact any child that I bare in the future could never be yours."

"Who the hell's baby is it supposed to be then? And what the hell is that supposed to mean, 'any child you bare in the future'? Are you saying that you plan to continue to cheat on me?"

"One question at a time please, if you don't mind." she told him, as she tried to hide her smirk.

"Stop trying to be funny!" He snapped. "You know damn well that none of this is funny. Tell me right now whose baby it is Hermione?" He growled out.

"Are you—"

"NO! No more funny comments! No more bloody jokes! The only words I want to hear coming from your mouth, is the name of the fucking wanker that knocked my slag of a wife up!" he bellowed out like a madman before standing up and placing both hands firmly on her desk, as if he needed to touch something in order to ground him to the spot where he currently stood.

She cringed at the viciousness of his tone and the harshness of his comment.

"You don't—"

"I said give me his bloody name," he growled out, as he looked up to lock eyes with her. And for the first time since they began this conversation, she actually felt scared. She had never seen him look this way, not even when he fell out with Harry was he this angry. "I'm not going to ask you again Mione. Who. Is. The. Father?" he ground out.

She wandlessly removed the glamour on her neck before gesturing to her mark. Once he looked away from her eyes and down to the mark, she began to speak, "Malfoy..." she squeaked out before continuing, "The father of my baby is Draco Malfoy."

And the next thing she saw was her husband jumping over her desk, in a deranged fit of rage.

* * *

 **AN: Let me know what you guys think. & I promise to respond to everyone that leaves a review :).**


End file.
